


Bring Me Home From Hell

by KytheWolf



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Broken Bones, Demons, Denial of Feelings, Domestic, Familiars, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Halloween, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Strangers to Lovers, Witch!Dan, basically me while writing this fic, coming to terms with sexuality, demon!phil, satanic, some blood but not too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-05-20 14:50:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14896613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KytheWolf/pseuds/KytheWolf
Summary: It’s an important moment for Dan when he finally perfects the ritual for summoning a demon, but he gets a lot more than he bargained for when he sets the creature loose on his life.Previously 'Take Me Down To Hell' - changed 23/7/18 because I now have a clearer idea of where the story is going, and the original title doesn't match up with that.





	1. Open the Door

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to write a Hogwarts AU, but then I had this idea and thought it would be funnier :) plus there's lots of other Hogwarts AUs so I thought I'd do something a bit different

“Snokoplasm is a common ingredient in the vast majority of hallucinogenic potions, but be very careful with how much you add; it contains a very high concentration of imagination energy, which can be harmful in large quantities…”

 _Ugh_. Dan yawned and dropped his head onto his arms as his Potions teacher waffled on. He normally liked Potions (it was basically teaching them how to make magical drugs), but today he just wanted it to be over; Potions was his last lesson of the day, and once he got home he could try out the new demon summoning ritual he had written…

“Hey.” Dan’s friend PJ was nudging him. “What’s up? You usually love Drugs Class.”

“I just want to get home,” Dan muttered. “I think I’ve got this demon ritual nailed this time.”

PJ rolled his eyes. “Dan, this is what, your seventh attempt? When are you gonna give up on this? D’you want another ‘Holy Cow’?”

Dan cringed. “We agreed to never speak of that again.”

PJ shrugged. “Well, whatever. Just don’t expect my help when it all goes to Hell.”

“With any luck, it will be coming _from_ Hell,” Dan murmured under his breath.

When the bell sounded ten minutes later, Dan was the first one out of the classroom.

Dan had been going to Knight’s Witchcraft School for the past seven years, since he was eleven. Although most of the school’s pupils were female, there was a reasonable proportion of boys as well [because, dear reader, men can do witchcraft as well; we are not sexist]. The Witchcraft School owned several hundred acres of land, and part of that was taken up with housing for the students who boarded, which included Dan. Each house had around three to seven inhabitants, except for Dan’s; since his roommates had left the school the previous year, he had lived alone.

This was very much a bonus, as there was no-one to get in the way of his experiments or get pissed at him when he blew up the basement again.

Ever since he had taken a course on Satanic Rituals three years ago, Dan had become obsessed with figuring out how to summon demons; for some reason, he found the idea of having a hellish being who could devour souls at his command very appealing.

Once Dan got back to his house, he dumped his bag on the kitchen table and began rummaging around in one of the cupboards. The noise disturbed Sans, the black-and-tan Shiba Inu lying on a pile of blankets in the corner.

Sans was Dan’s familiar; his animal companion sent by the Devil. Not everyone had a familiar; you just had to wait for one to show up, which they normally did within a week or two of coming to the school. Most people had cats or crows or rats, so Sans had been a bit of a surprise, but Dan hadn’t complained. He had never much liked cats or birds; he had thought a rat might be alright, but Dan much preferred Sans.

As Dan spread different tools and ingredients on the table, Sans came over to look, then tilted his head at Dan; _'Are you sure this is a good idea?'_

“I’ve got it this time, Sans,” Dan muttered, grabbing an armful of stuff from the table and opening the door to the basement. “I’m sure this one will work.”

Sans sighed. _'Well, just don’t blame me when it goes wrong and I have to herd another cow out to the werewolves.'_

“Hey, you watch your sass, mister, or else I’ll make you sleep outside.”

_'Outside would be safer.'_

“Just help me bring this lot, would you?”

Sans sighed again, but he picked up a box of candles in his mouth and followed Dan down the stairs.


	2. Blood and Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caution- mild gore

It was midNight. Rays of light from the full Moon shone through the open hatch, illuminating the circle of red candles on the basement floor. As the howls of the werewolves in the forest pierced the air, Dan emerged from the shadows, a hooded black cloak over his head and a sacrificial knife in one hand.

“Spirits of darkness, come to me,” he chanted, holding the blade of the knife over the flames of a torch so that it began to glow red-hot. “Red Lord Lucifer, hear this prayer.” Dan held his free hand, his right, over another torch, the heat stinging his palm slightly; apparently he hadn’t quite perfected that pain-resistance potion. Dan continued chanting, switching between languages every couple of lines, as he stepped into the circle of candles. From the shadows in the corner of the room, Sans sat watching in silence, wearing a stereotypical pointed witch’s hat.

“Always with the fucking hat,” Dan had said earlier, before they had started the ritual, when Sans had appeared with it on his head. “Do you really have to wear it?”

 _'I like it,'_ Sans had huffed. _'It makes me feel like I’m actually helping.'_

“Ugh, fine,” Dan had muttered. “Just… ugh, I don’t care, sure whatever.”

_'Yay!'_

Now, Dan reached his arms out towards the open hatch, letting the Moonlight soak into the burnt flesh of his hand and the glowing blade of the knife. Still chanting, his eyes fixed on the Moon, Dan drew the blade across his palm, letting the blood flow down his fingers as he lowered his hand to the floor and began tracing a circle within the ring of candles.

When he finished the last point of the pentagram, he stepped out of the circle and knelt on the ground, sticking the bloody knife point-down in a patch of dirt cut into the basement floor, and chanted the last words of the ritual.

Lightning flashed through the hatch, striking the centre of the pentagram, but Dan kept his eyes fixed on the blood, watching it drip down the knife and soak the Earth red.

Thunder rumbled outside, and flames erupted on the lines of the pentagram, fuelled by the burning of Dan’s blood and growing into a towering figure.

As Dan looked up, the figure collapsed on the floor, and all the candles in the ring went out with a quiet whoosh. Dan stood up cautiously, disbelief and amazement fighting in his chest.

It had worked. It had _actually worked_. He had _fucking done it!_

“Yes!” Dan cheered, raising his arms with delight and pushing his hood back with his left hand. Sans came over, barking excitedly, and the two of them danced around each other, laughing, for a few moments, and then Dan turned to examine the creature he had summoned.

The demon had pale, sickly-looking red skin; long, gangly arms and legs; ragged, bat-like wings; small bronze horns; large, pointed ears; a long, snake-like tail; ratty black hair with a fringe that swept off to one side; and surprisingly bright blue eyes. It was hunched on the ground, watching them with an unreadable expression and picking at the dirty cloth around its waist.

Dan cleared his throat and tried to regain his dignity, unconsciously fixing his hair with his left hand.

“What is your name, demon?” he enquired in a loud, commanding voice.

The creature ruffled its wings and muttered something that sounded like _“fhl”_.

“What?”

The creature cleared its throat and, in a slightly louder voice, murmured, “Phil.”

Dan blinked. “Phil?”

“Yeah…” The demon rubbed the back of its neck awkwardly. “I know it’s not very intimidating. My mum wasn’t the most imaginative person; all the other mums were calling their children ‘Face-Eater’ or ‘Bloodrain’ and my mum was just like, ‘eh, call him Phil’.”

There was a moment of awkward silence.

“No shit it’s not intimidating,” Dan burst out suddenly. “I finally managed to get the _fucking_ ritual right, I go to show my friends, and I say ‘hey guys look at this hideous creature of darkness I summoned, his name’s _Phil_ ’.”

Dan’s shoulders visibly slumped on the last word, and the demon grinned, poking his forked tongue between his pointed teeth in a way that made him seem almost cute.

“Yeah, it does sound bad when you put it like that,” Phil agreed, scratching his shoulder.

Sans moved forward to sniff the demon. _'He smells like wood fires.'_

“Woah…” Phil flinched away. “It’s sentient?”

Dan stared at him in disbelief. “Of course he’s sentient!” he yelled, his voice going high-pitched like it does when he’s mad. “He’s a dog, not a fucking cheese grater!”

Phil ducked his head apologetically.

 _'Still better than a Holy Cow,'_ Sans pointed out, moving to stand next to Dan.

Seeing the frown on Phil’s face as the demon opened his mouth to speak, Dan quickly said, “Don’t ask.” He rubbed his face, thinking, and sighed.

“Well, I guess you’d better come upstairs,” Dan muttered after a minute, turning to put out the torches and grabbing a scrap of cloth to wrap around his burnt and bleeding hand. “Sans, could you get the hatch?”

As the dog crossed the room to pull the lever that closed the hatch, Dan beckoned to Phil and headed up the stairs. The demon followed hesitantly, looking around as they emerged from the basement.

“Nice place,” Phil muttered. Dan snorted; there was dirty laundry and random potion ingredients strewn everywhere, but Dan supposed it probably was nicer than the pits of Hell.

“You can bunk in here for now,” Dan said, indicating one of the spare bedrooms. It was small and simple, with only a bed, desk and wardrobe, but Phil seemed satisfied. The demon curled up on the bare mattress like a cat, shifting one wing to hide his face. Dan left him to it and went into his own room, closing the door behind Sans.

The dog settled down in his basket as Dan got undressed, and when the boy had climbed into his own bed Sans asked, _'Are you ok?'_

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Dan muttered distractedly, wincing as he cleaned the wound on his right hand and applied a healing balm before bandaging it securely. “Just tired.”

Sans tilted his head but didn’t question it. Instead, he rested his head on his paws and yawned, _'GoodNight.'_

“’Night,” Dan murmured, extinguishing the candles and lying down.

Despite the stillness that settled over the room, Dan lay awake for several hours listening to the demon snoring through the wall.

The truth was, Dan had never thought this far ahead, never thought what he would do if he actually managed to summon a demon; he had only been focused on getting the ritual right. Now that he actually had a demon, Dan had no idea what to do.

Especially with one named Phil.


	3. Friends and Familiars

_'Dan?'_

Dan woke up the next morning to find his vision filled with Sans’s face. He sat up groggily, his right hand still throbbing from last night.

“What is it?” he muttered, glancing at the clock; it was just gone half ten.

 _'PJ and Louise are at the door,'_ Sans answered, just as Dan heard them knocking.

“Ugh, why? Lessons aren’t til later…” Dan swung his legs off the bed and stood up, yawning and stretching, and pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of joggers before going to let them in.

He opened the door to see his two best friends standing there with their familiars; PJ’s albino rat, Chris, on his shoulder, and Louise’s grey tabby cat, Darcy, winding around her ankles.

PJ grinned at him. “Well?” he asked impatiently.

“What?” Dan muttered, subconsciously fixing his hair.

“Did it work?” PJ spoke slowly, as though Dan was stupid.

“Oh, yeah,” Dan grinned tiredly. “Yeah, it worked. I got one.”

“That’s really good!” Louise smiled, wrapping Dan in a hug. “Well done!”

“Um, thanks.” Dan looked down as Darcy meowed frustratedly in the back of her throat. “What’s up, Darcy?”

Louise smirked smugly. “She bet me that you’d fail again, and the loser has to clean the toilet for the next week.”

 _'Ha!'_ Sans nudged Darcy playfully. _'That’ll teach you to bet against my boy!'_

 _'Shut up, Sans,'_ Darcy hissed, swiping at the Shibe’s nose, but Sans danced out of reach.

“You didn’t think it would work either, Sans,” Dan reminded him, making PJ and Chris snicker. Sans huffed.

 _'I did,'_ he mumbled, _'I was just being cautious.'_

“Can we see it?” PJ asked eagerly.

 _'Yes,'_ Darcy agreed, _'I want proof before Louise wins.'_

Dan grinned at the cat. “Yeah, alright. You guys come through to the living room, I’ll see if he’s awake.” Dan led them into the lounge, and then went to fetch Phil.

The demon was sitting cross-legged on the bed when Dan opened the door. “Who’s that?”

“My friends, PJ and Louise,” Dan answered, dumping a bundle on the end of the bed. Phil flinched away.

“What’s that?”

“Um, clothes,” Dan said. “Nothing much, just an old pair of jeans and a T-shirt, but to be honest I feel a bit uncomfortable with you in just that cloth.”

There was a moment of awkward silence, then Dan said, “I’ll, um, leave you to get dressed. Come through to the lounge when you’re ready.”

As Dan closed the door behind him, Phil picked up the T-shirt gingerly, then smiled to himself.

Dan went to join the others in the lounge, finding them sitting in the armchairs, and as he flopped down on the sofa Louise asked, “So, how did you do it?”

“I’m guessing you used a blood sacrifice?” PJ said, pointing to Dan’s bandaged hand. Dan nodded.

“Yeah. I also tried mixing up languages. For all my other tries, I did the whole thing in only one language, but I thought using multiple ones would give it more power, help to link the worlds and all that shit.” Dan grinned. “And it worked.”

 _'So where is the demon?'_ Darcy hissed impatiently.

At that moment, Chris perked up on PJ’s shoulder, pointing his nose towards the door of the living room. Dan turned around to see Phil standing nervously in the hallway, hidden in the shadows and wearing the T-shirt and jeans Dan had given him. Dan beckoned for Phil to sit next to him on the sofa, and the demon edged into the lounge, not speaking and avoiding eye contact. As he crouched on the sofa, Dan saw that Phil had made holes in the back of the shirt so that his wings could poke through, as well as in the jeans for his tail.

Dan turned to look back at PJ and Louise, grinning at the surprised expressions on their faces. “Guys,” he said, “this is Phil.”

“Phil?” PJ snickered. Dan frowned at him, seeing the expression on the demon’s face, and PJ added hurriedly, “Dan, you gave him a Pixel Pops shirt?”

“It was the only thing I could find in my roommates’ old stuff that I thought might fit him,” Dan explained complainingly. “In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s as tall as me if not taller.”

PJ held his hands up in mock-surrender. Dan stood up and started walking towards the kitchen.

“Does anyone want any tea or coffee or anything?”

Once PJ and Louise had given him their requests, Dan turned to Phil, who hadn’t said anything. Phil glanced up and muttered, “Uh, coffee?”

Dan grinned encouragingly and went off to make the drinks.

When he came back a few minutes later laden with mugs, Phil was answering questions about life in Hell.

“It’s basically what you’d expect it to be,” he muttered self-consciously. “Hot, dark, no Sun, lots of lava, etc. It’s quite a relief to get out of there, to be honest. Uh, thanks,” he added as he took his coffee from Dan and gave it a tentative sniff.

Louise smiled kindly as Darcy came over to sniff Phil, jumping lightly onto the arm of the sofa. Phil pricked his ears and eyed the cat apprehensively, but didn’t say anything. Suddenly, he sneezed loudly, making them all jump and spilling his coffee slightly; Darcy leaped back onto Louise’s lap and clawed her way up to sit on Louise’s head, hissing and howling angrily; Chris buried himself in PJ’s shirt; and Sans darted to hide behind the sofa.

Dan laughed at the surprised look on Phil’s face, and soon PJ and Louise were laughing as well. Phil smiled apologetically.

“Uh, sorry,” the demon muttered, wiping his nose on his hand and licking the dripping coffee off his arm. Chris emerged from PJ’s shirt, sniffing the air nervously.

 _'Is the demon allergic to Darcy?'_ the rat asked, watching Phil sniff and rub his nose. Darcy carefully climbed back down into Louise’s lap.

 _'That sounds like an excuse to leave,'_ she hissed, digging her claws into Louise’s jeans anxiously. Louise winced, prying the cat off her legs.

“Alright, we’ll go then,” she said exasperatedly, quickly gulping down her tea before standing up. “See you later, Dan.”

Once she and PJ had gone, Dan turned back to Phil, who was still hunched nervously on the sofa.

“I’m gonna go shower,” he told the demon, then, to Sans, “Keep an eye on him.”

The dog nodded, turning to stare at Phil, and Dan left the room.


	4. Teach Us Both A Lesson

When Dan came back twenty minutes later, fully dressed in jeans and a clean T-shirt, he found Phil crouched on the floor playing with Sans. The Shibe was skipping around him, trying to catch the demon’s pointed tail, but Phil kept whipping it away from him, laughing and spinning around to keep his tail out of Sans’s reach.

Dan hovered in the shadows of the hallway for a few moments, smiling as he watched the cute scene. It was the first time he had seen any kind of positive emotion on the demon’s face, but that soon melted away as Phil sensed Dan’s presence and stood up awkwardly. Sans didn’t notice that the demon had stopped playing, and was slightly surprised to suddenly find his jaws clamped around Phil’s tail. It wasn’t a hard bite, but Phil winced in pain and growled instinctively at the dog, lashing his tail away from Sans as the Shibe let go hurriedly and moved to stand next to Dan, head down and a hurt expression in his soft brown eyes.

Dan reached down to pat him comfortingly, watching Phil’s nervous face as he spoke. “I’ve got lessons all afternoon, so you’re gonna have to stay here with Sans until I get back, alright?”

“Um, yeah.” Phil fiddled with the hem of his blue T-shirt. “Whatever you say, master.”

“Oh yeah,” Dan remembered, “uh, what’s the deal with that, by the way?”

“What?”

“Me being your master, or whatever.”

“Uh, well,” Phil explained hesitantly, “when you summoned me, you basically created a magical bond between us, so when you, er, give me orders, I have to obey them.”

Dan nodded slowly. “So, how long do you have to serve me for?”

The demon shrugged. “Until you dismiss me. Or until you die.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Uh, ok,” Dan said hesitantly. There had been no indication of malice in Phil’s voice, but that last statement still made him slightly uneasy. “Well then,” he said, trying to change the topic, “I’m off to lessons. Uh, stay inside, don’t let anyone see you, and ask Sans if you’ve got any problems.”

Phil nodded. “Ok, master.” He moved to sit down on the sofa, but stood up again as Dan turned back to face him.

“Um, call me Dan,” Dan told him, smiling slightly. “‘Master’ sounds too formal.”

A small grin crept onto the demon’s face as he replied, “Ok… Dan.”

They smiled at each other. Then Dan opened the door, grabbing his keys, phone and bag as he did so, and headed off to lessons, leaving Sans and Phil alone in the house.

*

Knight’s Witchcraft School had been set up in the early-1800s by Lucian Knight, a witch herself during the mediaeval period. It was said that she had been visited by Satan himself during her late twenties, and that had inspired her to learn witchcraft and pass it on to younger generations. The school had been opened as a safe place for young people to learn the craft away from the persecution of Christians, and Satan had rewarded her with immortality so that she could continue doing what she loved. Lucian was now over two hundred years old, but she still remained Headmistress of the school, teaching the art and knowledge to anyone who wanted to learn.

The school was in general a very chilled-out environment for its students. Obviously, there were some standard school rules, such as respecting teachers and fellow students and handing in assignments, but other than that the school basically allowed the students to go and do wherever and whatever they wanted, allowing them to discover and develop the craft in their own ways.

Not all of the school’s charges were human, either. Knight’s also offered protection for werewolves, vampires and other supernatural creatures from all over the country, giving them a safe environment to live in away from the persecution of humans, as long as they didn’t attack the students.

Aside from the main building – a large and darkly imposing stone mansion – and the streets of student housing, there was the food hall (basically a supermarket where students went to get their food allowances), a sports hall with a gym, several gardens of crops for both edible purposes and potion ingredients, and a stable block, which was used to house about forty Yrs [pronounced ‘ears’]; skeletal horse-like creatures with massive wings and spiralled horns on their foreheads. Their coats could be any shade on the greyscale from the deepest black to the most blinding white, and the school kept them for the healing properties in their horns as well as for long-distance transport as an alternative to the standard witch’s broom.

The rest of the school’s lands were made up of open countryside and forests, which were home to all the normal British woodland species in addition to nearly a hundred werewolves and several colonies of faeries, but these were no Tinkerbells; faeries were violent and savage, and despite only being an inch tall could take down a squirrel single-handedly.

Dan speed-walked to his Supernatural Creatures class, cursing as he realised that he had forgotten to finish the homework essay on basilisks in the excitement of last night’s events. Oh well, he thought, rounding the corner into the courtyard corridor just as the bell rang. Professor Ormando liked him, so he’d probably let him off. The teacher had not yet arrived when Dan opened the door to the classroom and slipped into his seat, but as Dan began unpacking his bag the Professor hurried in looking slightly more flustered than usual.

“Hello, everyone; sorry I’m late,” he panted as he sat down at his desk and adjusted his glasses. “I was just preparing something for our next lesson. I think you’ll really enjoy it.” There was an excited gleam in his eyes as he changed the subject and got on with the lesson. Today’s was about dragons; interesting, but not enough to keep Dan’s mind from wandering back to the other interesting creature currently being dog-sat by Sans back at his bungalow.

Very few people knew of Dan’s experiments, and as he wasn’t entirely sure that it was allowed Dan preferred to keep it that way; the only people who were aware were PJ and Louise, obviously, and a couple of Dan’s neighbours who he’d had to pay off to keep quiet.

However, Professor Ormando might be able to give Dan some advice; firstly, as a su-nat [supernatural] zoologist, he knew a lot about supernatural creatures (obviously); secondly, he had been the teacher who ran the Satanic Rituals course, so he also understood the mechanics behind that; thirdly, Dan was one of his favourite students, so he was less likely to tell him off than other teachers might be.

At the end of the lesson, Dan lagged behind, packing his bag slowly to make sure he was the last one in the classroom with the Professor.

“Have you got your homework, Dan?” Ormando asked as Dan approached his desk.

Dan rummaged in his bag and pulled it out, passing it over with a muttered, “Sorry, I didn’t finish it.”

Ormando raised his eyebrows slightly, then shrugged. “Ah well; at least you had a go at it. What happened to your hand?” he asked, nodding to Dan’s bandaged right hand.

“Um, actually I wanted to talk to you about that,” Dan murmured nervously.

Ormando looked up from sorting the pile of homework papers. “Oh? What is it?”

Dan told him about summoning Phil, cautious of being told off at first but gaining confidence as he continued and Professor Ormando kept asking for more details about how he did it. By the time Dan had finished, the Professor’s face was lit up like a child who had been told Christmas had come early.

“My boy, if you have truly managed to summon a demon, this is a huge achievement,” he said, a slightly manic expression shining in his eyes. “I would like to see this creature for myself. Bring it to our lesson tomorrow, then we will discuss this further.”

“Yes, sir,” Dan smiled, nodding at Ormando as the Professor gestured towards the door.

“Off you go to your next lesson, then,” Ormando told him. “I’ll see you and your demon tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir. Bye.”

Dan left, grinning to himself at the idea of bringing Phil to class and how the other students would react.

*

For about half an hour after Dan left, Phil and Sans just sat in awkward silence in the lounge. Despite being so quick to bond earlier, neither of them made any attempt to resume their game. Instead, Phil remained crouched on the sofa, fiddling with the hem of his T-shirt and not looking at the Shibe. Sans fidgeted a few times, first sitting on the floor opposite the demon, then moving to lie down by the back door, then on one of the armchairs. A couple of times he lifted his nose to sniff at Phil, not speaking but just trying to get a bit more of an understanding of him.

Finally, Sans left the lounge. Phil stayed where he was, not looking up, and was surprised when the Shibe came back a few minutes later with a squeaky ball and approached him with it. Sans placed the ball on the edge of the sofa next to where Phil was sitting and stepped back, watching the ball as it rolled backwards on the cushion and came to rest against Phil’s leg.

Phil glanced down at it, then up at the Shibe’s cautious but expectant face.

“What’s that for?” he asked after a moment, breaking the silence.

 _'It’s to play with,'_ Sans explained. _'You throw it, and I chase it and bring it back, then you throw it again and I bring it back again.'_

“Why?” Phil asked in confusion after a moment.

If Sans had possessed the correct anatomy to be able to, he would have shrugged. As it was, he just tilted his head slightly and answered, _'Because it’s fun.'_

“Why?”

Sans whined in frustration and bounced forward briefly to nudge the sofa cushion with his nose. _'I don’t know, it just is! Frowit!'_

As Phil cautiously picked up the ball, Sans dipped momentarily into a play-bow and added, _'But not too hard, though. Dan’ll get annoyed if we break anything.'_

Still looking confused, Phil threw the ball across the room towards the back doors, flinching slightly as Sans leapt after it, barking with excitement, his claws clattering on the wooden floor as he jumped up and caught the ball, then skidded along for about a foot, turning around as he did so and then bounding back towards Phil, holding the ball triumphantly in his mouth and squeaking it a few times before dropping it on the sofa once more.

_'Again!'_

A small grin began to grow on Phil’s face as the demon picked the ball up and threw it again. San’s claws scrabbled Scooby Doo-fashion on the wooden floor in his haste to chase after it, and as he reached forward to snatch the ball out of the air his paws slipped out from under him and he slid across the floor until he crashed into the back doors.

Phil flinched in sympathy – it had looked painful – but Sans just jumped up again, tail wagging crazily, and bounded back for another run, a wide doggy-grin stretched across his face.

After another couple of throws, Phil started laughing; a sparkling sound of pure joy that sounded strange to the ears of both dog and demon, but once he’d started Phil found that he couldn’t stop: he just kept laughing, his forked tongue poking out between his pointed teeth.

Sans pricked his ears happily, joyfully making each catch just as ridiculous if not more so than the last one. They kept playing for about twenty minutes, until they were both completely exhausted. Sans dropped the ball by the sofa and climbed up to lie down next to Phil, panting heavily but happy nonetheless. Phil’s laughing began to wear off, and he wiped tears from his eyes as Sans dropped his head to rest on Phil’s leg.

“Oof,” Phil sighed, still grinning. “I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard in my life.”

 _'Told you it was fun,'_ Sans panted.

“Yeah.” Phil dropped his hand to rest on Sans’s neck, absent-mindedly running his clawed fingers through the dog’s soft fur.

They stayed like that for about ten minutes before Sans stood up with a grunt and went to have a drink from his water bowl. As Phil watched the dog lapping up the water he realised how hungry and thirsty he was, having had only a half-mug of coffee since before Dan had summoned him.

“Hey, um, is there somewhere I can get a drink?” Phil asked Sans.

The Shibe looked up, licking the dripping water from his muzzle, and pointed his nose towards the kitchen door. _'Sure. There are glasses in the closest cupboard on the left, and the cold tap is the one on the right.'_

Trying to make sense of this information, Phil went through to the kitchen and looked around. It was fairly large, with plenty of room for the appliances, counter and cupboards around the walls and a dining table big enough to seat at least eight people. Phil opened the cupboard nearest the door, like Sans had said, and picked out a large, square-ish glass that was almost as tall as his head. At the sink, it took him a couple of minutes trying to figure out how to work the taps, and then once he had he spent another minute in child-like surprise at the way the water poured out in a seemingly endless stream, swatting at it like a cat. Finally, he filled his glass and turned the tap off, taking large gulps of water as he wandered back into the lounge and sat down on the sofa again.

Sans was sitting by the back door when Phil entered, and as the demon sat down he asked, _'Can you open the door for me?'_

Phil frowned slightly in confusion, but he got up and crossed the room towards the Shibe.

“Can’t you do it yourself?” he asked curiously as he reached for the handle.

 _'Just because I can talk, doesn’t stop the fact that I don’t have opposable thumbs,'_ Sans replied.

Phil shrugged in an ‘I suppose so’ way and turned the handle, having already figured that one out earlier.

As the door swung open, Sans stepped out into the relatively big garden and crossed over to sniff the bushes. Phil stayed inside, remembering what Dan had told him that morning, and watched the dog through the glass for a moment before moving to sit back on the sofa and taking another gulp of water.

“Is there any food?” he asked when Sans came back inside a few minutes later. The Shibe led him back through to the kitchen and nose-pointed at a couple of other cupboards.

 _'There’s dry foods in there, or fruit, veg and…'_ Sans glanced at the demon, _'… meat in the fridge.'_

Phil thanked him and began rummaging in one of the cupboards that Sans had indicated, while Sans went back through to the lounge.

As he searched, Phil noticed an enticing sweet smell, and traced it to a yellow box at the back of the cupboard. He brought it out and opened it, reaching in to pick out once of the cereal clusters and nibbling on it curiously. The first one was soon gone, and more quickly followed as Phil carried the box through to the lounge and settled back on the sofa.

*

Dan returned home about forty minutes later, by which time Phil had eaten about three-quarters of the box, which had been almost full when he’d started.

When they heard Dan’s key in the lock, Sans leaped up from where he’d been snoozing on one of the armchairs and bounded through to the hall, barking excitedly and leaving Phil sitting in the lounge with the almost-empty box of cereal.

“Hey, buddy,” Dan grinned, bending down to greet Sans as the Shibe jumped up to lick his face. “How’s your afternoon been? Did Phil behave?”

 _'Yeah, it was good,'_ Sans told him eagerly. _'We played fetch and then he gave me strokes, then Phil was hungry, so I told him where the water and food was and we’ve basically just been sitting around and snoozing.'_

Dan smiled at the dog, rubbing his ears before leading him through to the lounge and grinning at Phil.

“Alright?” he asked the demon. As Phil nodded, Dan noticed the box in his hands and added, “Have you been eating my Crunchy Nut?”

“Um… Sans said I could,” Phil murmured guiltily, swallowing his mouthful of cereal and putting the box down.

Dan crossed over and picked it up, shocked at how light it felt. “This is almost empty!” he exclaimed, turning to Sans.

The Shibe dipped his head self-consciously. _'Don’t blame me, I was asleep,'_ he muttered.

Dan turned back to Phil and sighed as he watched the demon take a sip of water. He didn’t have the heart to tell the demon that he was drinking out of a vase, so instead he shrugged and said, “Well, I’m due for another food allowance soon anyway, so I’ll just go over to the food hall tonight and get some more.”

Phil sighed inwardly with relief that Dan wasn’t angry with him and smiled guiltily. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Dan insisted. “I should’ve offered you something to eat this morning.”

Leaving Phil in the lounge, Dan returned the box of cereal to the kitchen then went to dump his bag in his bedroom. He returned a few minutes later with several shopping bags and a long winter coat that he’d found in another box of his roommates’ old stuff. This he passed to Phil, saying, “C’mon, let’s go get more food. Put that on to hide your wings and tail; I can do a glamour spell to cover your horns and claws, but it won’t be strong enough to cover something as big as your wings.”

Phil nodded and obediently put on the coat, wrinkling his nose at the uncomfortable way it pinned his wings to his body. Dan cast a glamour over him to make his still-visible face and hands look more human, and was surprised at the person stood before him when he stepped back to take a look at the full effect.

Phil’s skin was still very pale, kind of like a vampire’s, but without the red tinge that his demon face had he looked a lot less threatening and more like a child who never went outside; his blue eyes looked like bright ice crystals; his black hair was much the same, just shinier and more neatly styled; his previously grubby and clawed fingers were now the same shade as his face, long, slender and elegant.

Dan blinked and gave himself a mental slap. “Well,” he said, clearing his throat, “not sure you look _quite_ human with skin that pale, but it’ll do just for this short outing.”

“Ok,” Phil said, looking down and examining his new appearance.

Dan went to grab his own jacket, then led Sans and Phil out onto the street and locked the door behind them.


	5. The Little Things

The Sun was beginning to set as they walked through the streets towards the food hall, keeping to the edge of the town near the fields so that there was less chance of being spotted. They didn’t talk except to explain to Phil what things were, and the demon was constantly looking around and taking everything in, occasionally shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably to adjust his wings beneath the heavy coat.

Dan kept glancing at him, mesmerised by Phil’s appearance. Even though it was his own spell that had done it, Dan was still surprised by the outcome, and no matter how hard he tried, there was no denying that Phil was indeed very attractive.

As they turned into the street where the food hall was, Dan was shaken from his thoughts by someone calling his name. He looked around to see James, one of his classmates and an acquaintance rather than a friend, waving to him from the other side of the road with a couple of his roommates, his other hand weighed down with bags of food; they were evidently on their way back from collecting their own allowances.

Dan smiled at James as the other boy left his roommates and crossed the road towards them, grinning in a friendly way.

“What’s up, Dan? Who’s your friend?” James asked as he reached them, looking Phil up and down and smiling at him.

“Uh, this is Phil,” Dan replied hesitantly. “He’s uh… a new student.”

“Hi!” James said to Phil, shifting his bags to his other hand and holding out his free one to shake Phil’s. Phil glanced at Dan, then took James’s hand cautiously, maintaining contact for only a moment before letting go again.

“Hi,” he muttered, not meeting James’s eyes.

“He’s very pale, isn’t he?” James murmured to Dan. “Are you sure you’re human?” he asked Phil jokingly. “Not a vampire, are you?”

Phil didn’t quite manage to hide the fear in his eyes from James’s question, but he answered nervously, “Uh, no; I’m definitely not a vampire.”

“I’m just messing with you, there’s no need to look so scared,” James grinned, clapping Phil lightly on the shoulder. “Well, I gotta go, but I’ll see you around, yeah?” he said, smiling at Dan again and walking on past them. “Bye!”

“Bye,” Dan called, sighing with relief once the other boy was out of sight around the corner. “That was close,” he muttered, turning and continuing on towards the food hall.

“Yeah,” Phil agreed nervously, looking down at his hands as though worried that James’s touch might have rubbed off the glamour.

Thankfully, they didn’t meet anyone else on their way to the food hall. They grabbed a trolley and went around as quickly as possible, stocking up on pasta, milk, pizzas, sodas and other foods that typically form the majority of a university [college] student’s diet. They spent about five minutes just in the cereal aisle because Phil was too overwhelmed by the all the choice, and they ended up picking about four different types for the demon to try, as well as a few boxes of Crunchy Nut for Dan.

Once they had everything, they went to the checkout so that the cashier could scan Dan’s student card and verify that he had picked up his allowance, then left the food hall, Dan and Phil laden down with three or four bags each and Sans carrying one in his mouth.

The Sun had almost set by the time they left, and the magical candles in the streetlamps were just beginning to flicker on. Dan and Phil were both grinning: they had had fun choosing different foods for Phil to try and pushing each other around in the trolley, but as they began walking down the street to head home they passed a couple of girls in Dan’s year, who he recognised by sight but didn’t know the names of.

The girls’ unsteady walking and slightly slurred speech betrayed the fact that they had just come from the pub in the nearby town, and they were both giggling as one of them very deliberately stepped in front of Dan, Phil and Sans, blocking their way.

“Hey, handsome,” she said to Phil, trailing her eyes slowly up and down his body. “Don’t remember seeing you around here before.”

“He’s a new student,” Dan put in hurriedly, as the other girl giggled.

The girl who was talking to Phil smiled coyly stepped closer to him, once again running her gaze over the demon’s body, although she had no idea that was what he really was. “Well then,” she drawled, “wanna go somewhere more private, and I’ll show you how much fun we have here?” She licked her lips, apparently not noticing or caring about the terrified look in Phil’s eyes.

“Uh… n-no thanks,” Phil stuttered, taking a step backwards. The girl shuffled closer again, reaching one well-manicured hand up and gripping Phil’s shoulder, one finger at a time.

“Aww, c’mon, sweetie; no need to be scared. I’ll be gentle, I promise. By the way, what’s your name? I need to know because I’ll be screaming it later.” She gave Phil a dirty, suggestive smile as he shook his head, glancing at Dan with terrified eyes as Sans made a retching noise. Dan was at a complete loss for what to say or do, watching the scene unfold with a kind of shocked intrigue, as though he was witnessing a horrific traffic accident.

When Phil said nothing, his only response the increasing discomfort and fear in his eyes, the girl added, “C’mon, sweetie, you know you want _this_.” In one swift move, the girl pressed her body right up against Phil’s, wrapping her arms around his neck and one leg around his waist so that her crotch was pressed against his.

That was the final straw to break Phil out of his terrified silence, and in a desperate attempt to get the girl to stop he blurted out, “I’m gay!”

The girl let go hurriedly and stepped back, her cheeks reddening and her eyes shocked as her friend giggled behind her.

They didn’t wait for her to recover from her shock. As soon as Phil was free he took off down the street, and after a second Dan and Sans followed him, leaving the two girls muttering together in the light of one of the street lamps.

They didn’t stop running until they were three streets away, when they leaned against a wall for several minutes, panting heavily.

“Lucifer damned, that was the most awkward experience of my entire existence,” Phil muttered, putting his bags down for a moment to bury his face in his hands.

“Same,” Dan agreed. “If I hadn’t been so scared, it might’ve been almost funny.”

 _'I need a very powerful forgetfulness potion to erase that from my mind,'_ Sans gagged, shaking his head and pawing at his ears as though trying to physically remove the memory of what had just happened.

“Me too.” Phil took his hands down and picked up his bags again. “Can we get going before they find us again?”

“Yeah, let’s.”

They didn’t speak for the rest of the walk home, but a part of Dan was desperate to know if Phil had been telling the truth back there, or just saying that he was gay to get rid of the girl. Sans gave Dan a curious stare but said nothing. Phil didn’t volunteer any information on the subject, and Dan felt too awkward to ask.

As they reached the end of Dan’s street, he noticed in the flickering light of the street lamps that Phil’s glamour was beginning to wear off; his horns and claws were just about visible, semi-corporeal like a ghostly layer of another reality, and his skin was returning to its original shade of blotchy red.

Dan just about managed to close the door behind them before the glamour collapsed completely. As he turned around to hang his keys on the hook by the door, Phil shrugged off the long coat and stretched his wings out as wide as they would go along the length of the hallway with a relieved expression on his face.

“Ah, that’s better; I don’t like having my wings trapped,” Phil murmured, handing the coat back to Dan.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Dan said, hanging it up next to his own. “If I could, I would’ve just extended the glamour to cover them, but glamour spells are pretty advanced and tbh I’ve never been that great at them. Also, the bigger the spell, the less time it lasts for, and we barely made it home as it is.”

“Yeah, no, I get that,” Phil told him, picking up his bags from where he’d put them down and following Dan through to the kitchen. “I was just saying…”

They put all the bags on the kitchen table and set about unpacking them. By this time, the trauma of the incident with the girls had worn off somewhat, and they were finding it easy to laugh about now.

As they finished putting the last of the food away, Sans bounded up to Dan and asked, _'Can we have a movie night?'_

Dan looked at the Shibe, who turned on his biggest puppy-dog eyes just in case Dan was thinking about refusing. Dan smiled and shook his head fondly, reaching down to rub Sans’s ears.

“Yeah, alright,” he told the dog. “You show Phil how to set up Netflix, and I’ll bring some snacks through.”

As Sans yipped excitedly and jumped up at Phil, nipping playfully at his T-shirt and gently pushing him towards the lounge, the demon gave Dan an anxious look. Seeing Phil’s unsure expression, Dan added, “Don’t worry, Sans’ll show you, it’s fine.”

Still not looking reassured, Phil followed Sans out of the kitchen, and Dan began preparing bowls of popcorn, crisps and meat-flavoured dog biscuits.

When he entered the lounge about five minutes later with the tray of snacks and drinks, dog and demon were crouched next to the TV talking in raised voices: Phil appeared to be having some difficulty understanding Sans’s instructions, much to the Shibe’s frustration. Neither of them seemed to notice as Dan set down the tray on the coffee table and flopped down onto the sofa to watch their exchange.

 _'Click on the goddamned menu!'_ Sans barked, nosing at the icon on the TV screen.

“How do I reach it?!” Phil was pressing random buttons on the remote, causing the TV to freak out.

_'Use the arrow buttons!'_

“Where are the arrow buttons?!”

Sans whined loudly, dipping his nose to the ground before using it to point at the remote. _'There!'_

“Those are triangles, not arrows!” Phil protested, still hammering buttons at random.

 _'They’re arrows, for Satan’s sake! Just–'_ Sans cut off as he turned his head and spotted Dan.

“Everything alright?” Dan asked, trying to hide the amused tone in his voice.

 _'No!'_ Sans left Phil by the TV looking guilty, and bounded over to bury his face in Dan’s lap. _'Can you just do it, please?'_ he asked in a much calmer voice after a moment. _'I don’t have enough energy left to explain it to him; he just doesn’t understand anything I’m saying.'_

Dan smiled and stroked the dog’s ears before getting up and approaching Phil. The demon handed him the remote without meeting his eyes, but as Phil started to move away Dan stopped him and crouched down next to him.

“Look, I’ll show you.” Dan proceeded to navigate through Netflix to the movie Sans wanted, describing to Phil what he was doing at each stage and making sure the demon understood. Once the movie was set up, Dan and Phil retreated to the sofa and sat down. Dan handed Phil the remote and let him press ‘play’, and with an exchange of smiles they settled back to watch.

“Sans, you coming?” Dan asked, glancing over at where the Shibe was sulking on one of the armchairs.

 _'Hmph,'_ the Shibe huffed. _’Course he understands when_ you _explain it. S’not that difficult, but when I try and explain it he’s got no clue in Hell what’s happening, and then you come along and he’s straight away like ‘oh yeah I get it’. Hmph.'_

“Sans, c’mon…” As funny as the dog’s chuntering was, Dan felt that laughing would not help Sans’s mood, so instead he said, “I brought biscuits for you, but you’ll have to come over here if you want some.”

The Shibe glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and for a few moments there was silence but for the noise of the TV. Then Sans huffed again and slid off the armchair, trying to keep up his pretence of sulking but failing as he climbed up onto the sofa between Dan and Phil and snuggled against them with a small sigh, settling down to watch the movie.

Dan rested his hand on the Shibe’s neck, gently running his fingers through the soft fur as he reached forwards and picked up the bowl of Sans’s biscuits so that the dog could reach them.

As the film progressed, the three of them gradually sank further and further into the comfort of the sofa and each other’s company. Phil seemed to enjoy his first experience of movie night, and he sat watching the screen intently throughout the whole movie, his only movement the repeated motion of transferring food from the coffee table to his mouth. Dan ate a few handfuls of popcorn, but his gaze was constantly wandering from the TV to the demon. He couldn’t help it; Phil was just so interesting to watch: the way his blue eyes shone with intrigue in the light of the screen; the way his long fingers carefully picked up each individual crisp or piece of popcorn; the way his wings ruffled and tail twitched when there was a tense moment in the movie; the way his lips moved, whether chewing or hanging open in childlike awe of the moving images; the way his forked tongue occasionally flicked out to lick crumbs from his lips or express his amusement in that adorable, unique way of his…

Dan shook his head slightly. _What was he thinking?_

Sans had fallen asleep by now, his chin resting on Dan’s knee and his hind foot occasionally twitching out as he dreamed. As Phil sat back, having finished off all the snacks including the few biscuits that Sans hadn’t managed to eat before he fell asleep, a couple of particularly strong kicks hit the demon’s leg, and Phil glanced at Sans before tentatively reaching out and resting a gentle hand on the dog’s leg, stilling the twitches as Sans sank into a deeper sleep. Once the Shibe had settled, Phil moved his hand to stroke the dog’s side near to where Dan’s hand rested, and Dan smiled to himself as their fingers occasionally brushed together amongst the soft black-and-tan of Sans’s fur.


	6. What You Mean To Me

Before they left for class the next morning, Dan re-cast the glamour spell over Phil.

“I know we’re gonna be showing your true form for my su-nat teacher,” Dan told Phil as he handed the demon his coat, “but I still don’t want _everyone_ seeing you.”

Phil nodded and put the coat on, still uncomfortable with the way it pinned his wings but more used to it this time. Dan grabbed his bag and made sure that the glamour completely covered Phil, then they both said goodbye to Sans and left the house.

They didn’t talk much as they walked to the Su-nat classroom. Phil asked a few questions about what was going to happen with Professor Ormando, and Dan assured him, “He just wants to see you for himself, Phil. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna let him do anything to you.”

Phil looked relieved at that, but was nevertheless on edge as they entered the main school building. Most people seemed too busy to pay Phil any attention, but as they entered the courtyard adjacent to the corridor where the Su-nat classroom was situated, they were stopped by a group of four heavy-set boys. The leader was named Rodger, and he had tried to persuade Dan to join his gang when Dan first came to the school. Even since Dan had refused, Rodger regularly repeated his offer, preferring to have potential threats as allies rather than enemies.

As Rodger stepped in front of them, all Dan could think was _please not now_ : in a fairly crowded courtyard, he had no idea how Phil would react to confrontation, and he _really_ didn’t want to find out.

“Who’s your friend, Howell?” Rodger asked, his voice friendly but with a noticeable threatening undertone.

“New student,” Dan muttered automatically, seeing Phil step back to hide behind him slightly, keeping his eyes down.

Rodger laughed harshly. “He looks like a right pussy. What’re you doing, hanging out with a weirdo like him when you could be hanging out with us?”

“Leave him alone, Rodger,” Dan said angrily, stepping forward and standing at his full 6ft 3.

Rodger scoffed, but there was a nervous glint in his eyes: despite his strength, Dan’s extra 4 inches of height made him an intimidating figure. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you, Howell,” Rodger sneered once he’d regained his confidence. “You’re just as weak as him if you’d rather hang out with a little bitch like that.”

Dan opened his mouth to make a retort, but he didn’t get the chance as he suddenly found his view of Rodger blocked by Phil’s head.

“Don’t speak to Dan like that.” Phil’s voice was dangerously soft.

The courtyard had emptied by now as people left to go to their different classes. Rodger glanced around before letting out a burst of laughter, “Ha! Need a bodyguard, do you, Howell? Too pussy to stand up for yourself, are you?” Rodger spat on the ground at Dan’s feet.

Before Dan could respond, Phil had pulled off his coat and stood up to his full height. Dan watched in horrified silence as Phil’s true form revealed itself: skin turning red, sharp teeth bared, forked tongue flicking out, clawed fingers curled and reaching towards Rodger and his friends.

Phil spread his wings and screamed at them; a terrifying, unnatural screech a hundred times worse than nails on chalkboard, flames dancing angrily within the cold blue of the demon’s eyes.

Rodger and his friends scrambled back in terror, tripping over each other in their haste to get away. Phil watched them, his tail lashing, as Dan quickly recovered and forced Phil back into the coat.

“C’mon, move…” He began shoving Phil towards the Su-nat classroom as he heard a teacher asking Rodger what had happened. For some reason, but at this point fortunately, the classroom was empty, and Dan closed the door behind himself and turned to look through the peephole just in time to see the teacher enter the courtyard. She looked around for the source of the noise, then, unable to locate it, she left, muttering to herself.

Dan was finally able to breathe again, and he turned around to see Phil seething in the centre of the classroom, still in his demon form.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Phil?!” Dan hissed, crossing over to him. Phil blinked, the snarl on his face fading into an expression of confusion as he looked down at his hands.

“Uh, I… I dunno,” he stuttered. “They were being mean to you, and I just… I had to do something.”

Dan’s anger dissipated, and he sighed. “Well… thanks for standing up for me.”

Phil shook his head. “It’s my job.”

“Right…” Dan rubbed his arm awkwardly, then said, “C’mon, let me put the glamour back.”

Once Phil was disguised again, Dan stepped back and looked around. “Now, where is everyone?” he asked.

“There was a sign on the door when we came in,” Phil remembered, shrugging.

Dan crossed over to the door and opened it. As Phil had said, a large notice written in red pen was pinned to the door. It read:

_TODAY’S LESSON WILL BE IN THE HABITAT BEHIND THE STABLES_  
_sorry for not telling you yesterday_  
_– Prof. O_

“Alright then,” Dan muttered, leading Phil back out of the classroom. “I guess we’re going to the habitat.”

*

When they arrived ten minutes later, the lesson had already started. Professor Ormando was standing by the door to the magical habitat, explaining to the class about how to behave within the habitat.

“The dragons that I have here for you today are fairly tame, but they will still attack if threatened, so please do _not_ do anything to provoke them. Remember what we learned in yesterday’s lesson about the behaviours of different breeds –” At this point, Ormando noticed Dan and Phil at the back of the crowd, and he paused, looking Phil up and down for a moment before meeting Dan’s eye and raising one eyebrow. Dan nodded subtly as a few other students glanced back at them, and Ormando continued. “Alright, so remember, everyone: calmly and quietly, please, and be back outside five minutes before the end of the lesson.”

With that, he opened the door to the habitat and let the students file past him. When Dan and Phil reached him, Ormando motioned for them to wait as he closed the door.

The habitat covered about thirty-five square metres, and was used to house any creatures whose natural habitats were drastically different from that of Britain, and could be turned into any range of environments, including desert, snowy tundra, savannah or, as it was today, rainforest. At the moment, the habitat was filled with lots of tropical plants and insects; the temperature had been magically adapted to mimic that of the rainforest, and Dan could see many small, elegant dragons in a whole spectrum of colours darting about amongst the shadows of the trees and undergrowth.

Dan’s eyes were pulled away from watching the dragons by Professor Ormando’s voice murmuring in his ear; “Is that the demon?”

Dan glanced at Phil, who was looking around in wonder.

“Yeah,” Dan replied quietly. “I cast a glamour on him so that he wouldn’t draw attention, and we were late because I had to redo it after he somehow managed to break out of it, and then we had to get here because we first went to the classroom –”

“That’s fine, I don’t mind that you were late.” Ormando was also watching Phil as the demon wandered a few metres away to look at the dragons. “Would you mind staying behind after the lesson so that I can see him without the glamour?”

“Yeah, ok.”

Ormando smiled. “Off you go, then, and enjoy the dragons. I’ll see you both back here in half an hour.”

Dan nodded, then went to join Phil. “You alright?” he asked as he reached him.

“Uh huh.” Phil glanced at him, and Dan could see small beads of sweat on the demon’s forehead as he panted slightly in the heat. “I wish I could take my coat off, though,” he added in an undertone. “I mean, Hell’s hot, but not this kind of… _damp_ hot.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Dan agreed, fanning himself with his hand; his clothes might be perfect for the October weather outside, but in here he was sweltering.

They spent the rest of the lesson wandering around the habitat, watching the dragons and Dan’s classmates trying to coax the beautiful creatures closer. The dragons seemed particularly interested in Phil; their heads turned to follow him as he passed, or they ran alongside through the branches.

Phil returned their curiosity, looking at them with his head on one side as Dan’s classmates glanced over at them to see what had distracted the dragons. No-one paid them much attention, but Dan and Phil didn’t mind; it was interesting just observing.

As the end of the lesson drew near, the students began drifting back towards the entrance, where Professor Ormando was counting heads to make sure everyone left. Surprisingly (or perhaps not, given the heat), no-one tried to hide away and stay longer, but the general mutter as people made their way out seemed to indicate that everyone had enjoyed the more casual lesson and being up close to the dragons.

Once the last students had gone, Ormando closed the door and turned to Dan and Phil, who had been hovering near the exit as everyone left. They followed the professor as he led them a little way through the trees until they came to a clearing with a few benches, gravel floor, beds of tropical flowers and lots of large rocks as borders around the flowerbeds.

Ormando sat down on one of the benches and looked at Dan. “Right, then. Let’s get a look at this demon of yours.”

Dan nodded and turned to Phil, who shrugged slightly but stood still and allowed Dan to remove the glamour. As Phil’s true form was revealed, Ormando leaned forward and studied him with great interest. When Phil took off his coat to expose his wings and tail, the professor stood up and approached him cautiously, examining the demon and after a moment reaching out to gently trace his fingers along Phil’s wings.

Phil flinched slightly at the touch, but obediently stood still, casting occasional nervous glances at Dan. Dan smiled encouragingly, noticing out of the corner of his eye that the trees surrounding the clearing were covered in dragons watching cautiously from the shadows of the leaves.

“My boy, this is truly remarkable,” Ormando praised, stepping away from Phil to stand beside Dan and keeping his analytical eyes fixed on the demon. “I have never known someone as young as you successfully summon a full-grown demon before. Tell me again how you did it.”

As Dan explained, Phil wandered towards one of the flower beds and stood next to the border stones, looking around at the dragons. Now that the demon was a little way away from the humans, a few of them were brave enough to come closer, and one relatively big golden female even flew down to land on one of the border stones near to where Phil stood. As she crept nearer, sniffing the air, Phil crouched down slowly so that his face was level with the dragon. She was long and slender, about a metre from nose to tail-tip, with delicate clawed feet and bright purple eyes in her intelligent face. The wings protruding from her shoulders were each about two and a half feet long, giving her an overall five foot wingspan, and the thin membrane stretched between the bones was a beautiful dark maroon colour with tiny gold speckles.

When she reached the stone directly next to Phil, the dragon sat up on her hind legs, meerkat-style, and sniffed the air near Phil’s face. Dan and Ormando had stopped talking to watch the exchange, but neither demon nor dragon seemed to have noticed. After a moment, the dragon slowly unfolded her wings and stretched them above her head. Phil copied her at the same speed, reaching his wings upwards to their full extent and holding them there for a few seconds.

The dragon huffed gently through her nose and Phil giggled, lowering his wings as the dragon jumped lightly onto his leg and then scrambled up to drape herself across his shoulders. Phil reached one hand up to stroke her head, and the dragon made little creening noises, closing her eyes and nuzzling into his touch. Phil smiled, then started laughing as lots of other dragons came down from the trees and began climbing on him, rubbing against his arms, legs, neck. Phil fell backwards onto his butt as more of them swarmed him, still laughing and trying to stroke all of them at once.

Dan grinned at the adorable scene and glanced at Ormando. The professor looked surprised as he muttered, “I’ve never seen these dragons do that before; they’re always a lot more nervous around people.”

“Maybe it’s because Phil’s not a human,” Dan murmured. “Maybe they just like his wings.”

“Phil?” Ormando asked, puzzled.

“Oh, uh, that’s his name,” Dan explained.

Ormando nodded slowly. “I’ve never heard of a demon named Phil before, either,” he smiled. “Or one with that kind of fashion sense,” he added.

“That was all I had that could fit him,” Dan muttered. “And it was either that, or just a loincloth, so I went with that.”

The professor’s eyes twinkled as he nodded agreement. They stood watching Phil playing with the dragons for another few minutes, then Ormando said, “Well, I think it’s time you two ran along. I’m teaching next lesson, and I can’t leave students in here unsupervised.”

Dan nodded. “C’mon, Phil, we gotta go,” he called.

“Aww…” the demon moaned sadly as he stood up, and the dragons scattered back into the trees, except for the gold one which was still lying on Phil’s shoulders.

As the demon approached Dan and Professor Ormando, the dragon stood up and wound herself around Phil’s neck, making little chirruping noises. Phil responded with the same kind of twittering, stroking her slender body with one hand, then the dragon slid off his shoulders and flew away. Phil watched her go, then turned to face Dan as Ormando spoke.

“Again, congratulations on your successful experiment,” he smiled at Dan.

“Thank you, sir,” Dan grinned back. “I honestly didn’t expect it to work.”

Ormando nodded and added, “It’s probably best that you keep putting the glamour on him whenever you have to take him anywhere, just to be safe.”

While Dan re-cast the glamour, a slight frown crossed Phil’s face, but he didn’t say anything as Dan said goodbye to Ormando and led him out of the habitat and back towards home.

“You alright?” Dan asked once they were a few minutes away, noticing the confused thoughtful expression on the demon’s face.

Phil didn’t answer right away, but after a few moments he frowned at Dan. “Am I just an experiment to you?”

“What? Why do you ask that?” Dan stuttered, surprised.

Phil looked back down at the pavement, still frowning. “Back there, your teacher called me an experiment, and you agreed with him and told him that you didn’t think it would work anyway.” Phil’s eyes met Dan’s again, “Is that true?”

The demon stared at him challengingly until Dan was forced to look away. “Well… yeah, kinda,” he murmured hesitantly. “I mean… I _didn’t_ expect it to work.”

“So summoning me was just a mistake?” Phil’s eyes were tinged with hurt, but his expression was stony.

“No, no…” Dan paused as he thought how to explain, but his hesitation only seemed to upset the demon more.

“Look, if you didn’t want me, why don’t you just dismiss me?”

“Phil, c’mon, it’s not like that – Phil!” Dan called as the demon gave him a hurt and angry look before wrenching his coat off and leaping into the air, his huge wings flapping steadily to carry him towards the forest.

“Oh, fuck…” Dan muttered, snatching up Phil’s discarded coat and glancing around; fortunately, there was no-one around to witness what had just happened, but people would surely spot the demon flying over the campus. Dan took off running after him, praying to Lucifer that no-one would see Phil as a threat and attack him.

*

Dan’s route to the forest took him down his street, so he quickly stopped at his place to pick up Sans, hoping that the Shibe would be able to track Phil. Sans was surprised when Dan burst through the door and woke him up, but followed without complaint once Dan had briefly explained what had happened.

 _‘Wait, so why did he run away?’_ Sans’s voice was shocked and faintly accusing. They were running towards the forest, and Dan was already gasping for breath.

“I d… I don’t know…” Dan panted. “He… like… got upset… at… something the professor said… and then… ugh, I dunno…”

Sans didn’t ask again, but at that moment he glanced up and caught a glimpse of a winged shape above the houses. _‘Dan, look!’_

Dan followed the Shibe’s gaze, his pace slowing.

Phil was above the forest by now, and Dan could hear alarmed shouts coming from that direction. As they watched, Dan’s blood ran cold as a bolt of coloured energy rocketed upwards from between the houses and hit Phil, knocking him sideways and sending him spiralling into the trees.

Dan ran faster, adrenaline giving him speed until Sans was struggling to keep up with him. Dan’s heart was in his throat as he headed towards the forest; he led Sans on a wide detour around where the bolt had come from to avoid running into the caster, and once they reached the edge of the woods Dan leaned against a tree to catch his breath, waving his hand at Sans.

“Can you… smell him… or… anything?”

Sans lowered his nose to the ground, also panting, and sniffed at the grass. _‘Not yet, but it looked like he came down over there somewhere.’_ Sans pointed his nose into the trees, and as Dan pushed away from his tree and began staggering in that direction the Shibe added, _‘We’ll have to be careful, though; we might not be the only ones looking for him.’_

Dan nodded, and followed Sans as he headed deeper into the forest, keeping his nose to the ground and his ears pricked.

They had been walking for about five minutes when Sans stopped abruptly and stood with his eyes fixed on something on the ground. _‘Look.’_

Dan knelt down next to him; there was a small patch of leaf mold that looked like it had been burned, a circle too perfect to be natural with a few drops of orange-red liquid in the centre. “What is it?”

 _‘Demon blood. It’s like acid.’_ Sans lifted his nose and pointed a little further on. _‘And more over there.'_ As Dan stood up with a slightly panicked expression on his face, the Shibe added, _‘I can’t hear anyone else searching for him, so I think it should be safe to call his name.’_

Dan nodded. “Phil!” he called immediately, standing up and looking around.

The echoes of his call bounced softly between the trees as Dan and Sans followed the trail of blood droplets deeper into the forest.

*

Meanwhile, Phil was crouched against the roots of a huge oak tree on the edge of a clearing, struggling to halt the steady trickle from his injured wing.

The energy bullet had hit his right wing, fracturing one of the bones near the base and ripping a jagged hole in the membrane. Because of where the wound was, Phil couldn’t get a clear look at it, but he could tell it was bad from the pain and the blood dripping down and slowly corroding the roots beneath him.

Phil sat there for a while, hyperventilating slightly from the pain and finding that he had too much time to think about what had happened with Dan. Phil shook his head to dislodge those thoughts; they weren’t going to help him now. At the moment, he just needed to concentrate on what to do about his wing.

In an attempt to stop the bleeding, he grabbed a handful of leaves and moss in his left hand, then reached his arm across his chest and under his right arm. From there, he could just about reach, and he winced as he put pressure on the wound. The bleeding slowed, but even despite the awkward angle, Phil knew it wouldn’t last long; he could already feel the moss disintegrating in his hand from the blood it was soaking up, and the dirt and bacteria probably wasn’t helping, either.

Suddenly, Phil pricked his ears up, looking attentively around at the trees: he could hear someone approaching. Phil’s vision started to go hazy at the edges, and he blinked it away as a large, hulking figure emerged from the shadows on the opposite side of the clearing.

The werewolf was walking on its hind legs, and its arms were still fairly humanoid, but its head was in full wolf-shift: the long, crooked muzzle filled with irregular white fangs; the wet, black nose twitching as it sniffed the air for the scent of the demon’s blood; the ragged ears torn and alert; the gunky yellow eyes fixed on Phil; the matted grey-brown fur covering its whole body. Clinging to its chest was a grubby and faded plaid shirt, and its legs were encased in equally tight and dirty jeans.

Phil’s ears flattened against his head as more werewolves emerged from the trees; it looked like a small pack.

“Well, well; what do we have here?” the first werewolf, presumably the alpha, drawled, stepping closer. Phil half-unfurled his good wing threateningly and growled, his tail lashing like an angry cat’s.

“Looks like easy prey, boss,” one of the others put in, dropping onto all fours and licking its lips.

The alpha grinned. “Tell me,” he called to Phil, “what’s a tasty morsel like you doing in our territory?” A long string of saliva dripped from the werewolf’s snout.

“You wouldn’t eat me,” Phil called, just about managing to keep the fear out of his voice. “My blood is acid; it’ll burn you.”

“Oh no,” the alpha mocked, “oh dear, we didn’t think of that, did we?” The wolf’s mock-sad expression twisted into a smug snarl. “Ha! Your blood can’t hurt us: we too are above nature, invulnerable to your poisons.” He dropped onto all fours and began stalking forwards, his tail flicking to signal for the others to do the same.

Phil lowered his head and hissed viciously, wincing as he repositioned into a defensive crouch and his wing shifted. His claws dug into the Earth as he looked around for an escape route; the werewolves were approaching from one side of the clearing, so theoretically he could get away in the opposite direction, but he doubted he could outrun them. Normally he would just fly away, but that obviously wasn’t an option. He could try fighting, but he was badly outnumbered, and his injury would make him more vulnerable than usual.

The pack was just over halfway across the clearing by now, and Phil was losing hope when he heard barking close by. He looked around hopefully, his heart lifting as Sans charged into view, barking savagely at the werewolves and taking up a defensive position about halfway between them and Phil, his hackles raised and a fierce snarl pulling at his lips.

“Sans –” Phil was touched: each werewolf was about six times the Shibe’s size and probably more than ten times stronger and heavier, yet Sans didn’t look fazed as he faced them down, growling at the leader and staring him challengingly in the eye.

The alpha looked startled by the Shibe’s sudden appearance and fearless attitude, but he soon recovered with a bark of laughter. “What is this?! You think _you_ can stand between a wolf and his prey? Move out of the way, little pet; this is not your business.”

“Actually,” a voice called from behind Phil, “it is.”

Phil glanced back. Of course, it was Dan, striding out of the trees with his face a contortion of fury as he faced the werewolves. The alpha shifted uneasily at his appearance.

“Human, we do not meddle in your matters –” he started.

“And yet you’re meddling right now,” Dan interrupted, swirling his hands to create a twisting vortex of metallic purple cloud and sparks. “That’s my demon, and if you want him, you’re gonna have to get through us.”

A crack of thunder and lightning shot through Dan’s cloud, and the werewolves edged backwards with hints of fear in their eyes. The alpha growled deeply in frustration, and Dan knew the argument that was turning in his mind: on the one hand, it would be easy for the werewolves to just kill Dan and Sans as well and then move on to Phil; however, if they did that it would violate the werewolves’ agreement with the school to not harm students, and that would get them thrown out of the school’s protection. Furthermore, it didn’t seem like Dan and Sans would be willing to move of their own accord, which left the alpha with only one option.

“You will regret interfering here, human,” he snarled. “We will let you all leave alive, for now, but if we get a second chance, we will take it.”

With that warning hanging in the air, the alpha turned and bounded back into the shadows of the trees, a flick of his tail calling his pack to follow.

Once the last werewolf had disappeared from view, Dan let his purple cloud dissipate and Sans relaxed, licking his lips and panting slightly. They both turned to look at Phil, whose previous excitement and relief at the sight of them had vanished, leaving him with the thoughts of what had got them into this situation in the first place.

Dan broke the silence.

“Are you ok?”

“Why do you care?” Phil muttered, attempting scorn but it didn’t work, so he turned back to nursing his wing to avoid the awkwardness. “I’m just a stupid experiment.”

“Phil, stop that,” Dan told him sternly, stepping closer and crouching down to the demon’s level. “You’re not just an experiment, ok? Maybe you were at first, but not anymore. Phil, I care about you because I’ve got to know you; you’re not just a test subject, you’re my friend.”

At the last word, Phil glanced up, the anger draining from his gaze in moments. “I am?”

“Yeah,” Dan grinned slightly. “C’mon,” he added, standing up and holding out his hand to the demon, “let’s get you home and get that wing taken care of.”

For a moment, none of them spoke or moved. Then Phil smiled and reached up to take Dan’s hand, allowing the boy to pull him to his feet and lead him back home through the trees with Sans scampering ahead.


	7. Food For Thought - And Alcohol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while :) Also, I've changed the title to fit better with where I've decided the story is going.

It was just under a week and a half later, and Phil’s wing was healing well. Dan had used his knowledge of medicinal magic to stop the bleeding with a spell, which then allowed him to apply an ointment and dress the wound without the risk of getting his hands corroded by the demon’s acidic blood. Dan had also repositioned the fractured bone so that it was correctly aligned, and attached a splint to prevent it from shifting out of place. Another splint had been secured to the bigger, spinal bones of the wing to stop Phil moving it and dislodging the splint or dressing.

Dan had never tried to heal such a complex injury before, but with help from the diagrams of wings in his Su-nat text book, an online first-aid instruction course and what he had been taught in Healing class, he had been able to figure out how to correctly align the fractured bone and secure the splint.

Now, the wound was healed enough for Dan to be able to remove the dressing and immobilising splint. He would be leaving the splint on the fracture itself as that wasn’t fully mended, but Phil was still eager to be regaining some use of his wing.

Dan had been surprised by how quickly Phil had healed, but he suspected that it was a mixture of the demon’s natural biology, lots of rest and an almost constant intake of sugary food. Professor Ormando had made frequent inquiries about Phil in Su-nat lessons, and when Dan had explained about the demon’s injury and what he had done to care for it, Ormando had for the most part agreed with his methods, and explained that in Hell demons were fed a very sweet, almost honey-like substance as a major part of their diet, which kept them strong and healthy so that they were invulnerable to most forms of magic that were used to punish the souls of sinners; the professor had suggested that it was the lack of sugar in Phil’s diet that had meant he had been so easily wounded; he had also offered to take a look at the injury himself, but Dan had declined, remembering that it was Ormando’s original comment that had indirectly caused Phil to get hurt. Instead of telling the professor that, however, he had lied, saying that Phil was more nervous around people since the injury, and fortunately Ormando had accepted the excuse, and he had invited Dan to just ask if he had any questions.

Dan carefully peeled off the dressing, and Phil winced slightly as the adhesive caught for a moment before coming away. The wound itself had been reduced to a couple of tiny scabs on the membrane of the wing, and the swelling around the fracture had shrunk significantly. Once Dan had removed the immobilising splint, Phil tentatively stretched the wing out, slowly furling and unfurling it to exercise the unused muscles.

Over the last week and a bit, Dan and Phil had become a lot more at ease around each other: they talked freely about whatever they felt like; they sat closer on the sofa when they watched TV; Phil was more confident doing things for himself, and they moved easily around each other as they prepared meals or snacks in the kitchen.

PJ and Louise, with Chris and Darcy in tow, had dropped in a couple of times to see Phil again after hearing about his injury from Dan, whispered across the table in Potions and Elemental Studies respectively. When Dan was at lessons, Phil bonded more with Sans; playing fetch, watching TV or sometimes just snoozing cuddled up together on the sofa. Dan still put the glamour over Phil whenever the demon went outside, normally to go for walks in the evenings when there were fewer people about.

Tonight, however, Dan had different plans, and Phil being able to move his wing again played a part in them.

It was Friday the 31st October, and Dan had come home from lessons and was explaining his plan to Phil as they sat on the sofa eating their dinner of pizza.

“We’re gonna go out to the town near campus,” Dan told Phil, “and we’re gonna scare the kids that are going round Trick-or-Treating.”

Phil looked confused. “What does that mean?”

“It’s Halloween!” Dan explained excitedly. “The kids go round to people’s houses in costumes, and they get sweets.”

“But why are we scaring them?”

Dan sighed, “Have you never heard of Halloween? People dress up as witches or ghosts or zombies or whatever – it’s the season of spooks; people expect to be scared. You can walk around without a glamour, and no-one will think you’re out of place.”

The demon nodded slowly. “So I’m gonna be doing the scaring?”

“Well, some of it.” Dan grinned, “You up for it?”

A mischievous smile crept onto the demon’s face. “Sure.”

*

Dan cast the glamour over Phil for while they walked through campus and out to the village. Over his shoulder, Dan carried his school bag, which was packed with his hooded cloak, his sacrificial knife, Sans’s witch hat and various potion vials, as well as a couple of bottles of water and a flashlight.

They made their way through the streets of the village until they found the perfect spot to stage their attacks: a fairly narrow road with no streetlamps, main enough that they would still get plenty of victims, but not too busy so that there shouldn’t be too many people at once. There was still about half an hour before sunset, so they had plenty of time to set up before the Trick-or-Treating got well under way.

The three of them took refuge in a small alleyway occupied by a couple of dumpsters between two garages to get ready. There was a small clump of bushes just outside the alley, which Dan figured would be perfect to jump out of to ambush Trick-or-Treaters. Dan put his bag down behind one of the dumpsters before unzipping it and extracting his cloak. He took off his jacket and pulled the cloak over his head, pushing the hood back so that he could see what he was doing. He placed the witch’s hat on Sans’s head, then pulled out the potions to show Phil.

“Ok, so I’ve got a few different ones to play with,” he explained, grinning as he held them up in order. “These blue ones will set on fire if you break the vial; it’s harmless, but I’ve only got six of those, so we’ll have to choose wisely when to use them. These red ones will make you able to breathe fire; the yellows give you glowing eyes; the purple ones create ghost smoke… oh, and I’ve also got a couple of pain resistance and healing, y’know, just in case.”

Phil had watched silently as Dan showed off his various weapons, his eyebrows rising higher and higher in surprise. “How long have you been preparing these?!” he exclaimed.

Dan shrugged, grinning slyly. “About a week,” he answered nonchalantly.

Phil shook his head fondly. As Dan stood up from where he had been crouched next to his bag and set about removing the demon’s glamour, he asked, “Alright, so what do you want me to do?”

“Right.” Dan stepped back from Phil (now in his true form) and pointed at the bushes. “You’re gonna hide in those bushes, then when someone walks past you’re gonna jump out and scare them.”

“How do you want me to scare them?”

“Uh, like, maybe spread your wings and yell at them? Kinda like the same way you did with Rodger and his mates, except less extreme.”

“Ok,” Phil nodded, taking off his coat and carefully stretching his wings. “I think I can do that.”

Dan grinned again, “Awesome.” He crossed over to stick his head around the corner of the alley. “Sun’s nearly setting, we’d better get ready.”

As Phil began heading towards the bushes, Sans added, _‘And you might wanna take your shirt off, too: a pixelated cat with kawaii blush and a bowl of cereal really isn’t that scary.’_

Phil laughed in agreement, and carefully pulled the T-shirt over his head and wings. Dan gulped nervously as the demon’s bare torso was revealed; he hadn’t really noticed before, but Phil’s stomach muscles were _very_ well-toned. As Phil tossed him the T-shirt, Dan gave himself a mental slap and turned to put it in his bag, pulling out one of the vials of blue potion.

“When you jump out,” he called softly to Phil, who was making himself comfortable behind the bushes, “I’ll throw this so that it smashes on the road at your feet; just don’t panic, alright? Remember, the fire’s harmless.”

Phil gave him the thumbs up from within the bushes (a gesture Dan had taught him), and settled down to wait as Dan and Sans retreated behind the dumpster.

It was only a few minutes before Dan heard their first victims approaching. He waited apprehensively as their voices grew louder, arm bent, ready to throw the vial as soon as Phil leaped out. It was only about fifteen feet, so he reckoned he should easily be able to land it where he was aiming for.

Just before the Trick-or-Treaters came into view, the bushes rustled and Phil jumped out as Dan let the vial fly. It shattered perfectly at Phil’s feet and erupted into orange and lilac flames as the demon stretched his wings out and screeched, the children’s screams mixing with his.

The pounding of footsteps running back up the road followed immediately after, and Phil made sure they were gone before he bent down to pick something up off the road then re-joined Dan and Sans in the alley. The fire burnt itself out within about ninety seconds, and Dan nodded appreciatively.

“That was great,” he told the demon. “Maybe try being a little bit quieter next time: we don’t want anyone to call the police on us.” As Phil nodded, Dan glanced down at the demon’s hand and asked, “What’ve you got there?”

Phil grinned as he opened his hand to reveal several chocolate bars and a couple of bags of Haribo. “They jumped so much it fell out of their buckets,” he explained, holding the candy out to Dan.

Dan shook his head, pushing the demon’s hand away. “No, those are your winnings – you keep them.”

“Alright; I’m not complaining,” Phil grinned, ripping open one of the chocolate bars with his teeth and biting into it.

“Ok, I’ll go next…” Dan quickly gulped down one of the pain resistance potions and picked up his knife before going to hide himself in the bushes, pulling his hood over his head.

The potion took effect almost instantly, and as he heard the next group approaching Dan quickly cut a slit in his palm – not deep, but enough for blood to drip down his fingers and the knife. When he guessed they were about ten feet away, he jumped out. As the children screamed, he reached out his bleeding hand to them and held his knife as if to stab one of them, making croaky wheezing noises and shuffling forwards. The children screamed louder and ran, and once they were gone Dan pushed his hood back and smirked, bending to collect the fallen sweets from the road.

He re-joined Phil and Sans behind the dumpster, already opening one of his own bags of Haribo. He popped a couple in his mouth, then offered a candy bear to Sans, but the Shibe recoiled.

_‘Ugh, no thanks; it’s got blood on it.’_

Dan shrugged and laughed, then put his head back and tossed the bloody bear into his mouth.

Sans winced in slight disgust, and stepped towards the bag of potions. _‘How long do these last?’_

“Um, about an hour, I think,” Dan answered, putting another Haribo in his mouth.

The Shibe nosed around the vials. _‘Ok, I wanna try with fire breathing, and then maybe add glowing eyes for my next go.’_

Sans tried a different tactic than Dan and Phil had: rather than jumping out of the bush, he sat innocently by the side of the road and waited for the children to approach him. He let them get close, perhaps even stroke him, before coughing up a burst of flame and sending the children scrambling backwards with shrieks of alarm.

They continued their pranking for about another hour and a half, by which time all the trick potions had been used. Phil seemed to draw out the loudest screams and biggest candy drops on average, especially once he drank the other fire breathing potion, which caused one child to drop their entire bucket. Phil also made the most use of the explosive fire and ghost smoke potions, except for one time when Sans, with glowing eyes and fire breath, leaped out of the bushes to have one of the fire vials burst at his feet; and another time when Dan, also with glowing eyes, emerged surrounded by purple mist and haunting moans. For the last couple of Sans’s goes, Dan cast an illusion spell on him to make it look like he had an extra two heads that moved and mimicked his real one, giving him the appearance of a kind of rip-off Cerberus, if Cerberus was a Shiba Inu.

*

When the potions began to wear off, and Dan and Phil were worn out from so much scaring and snacking on sweets in between goes, they decided to stop; the Sun had completely set by now, and the street was in almost total darkness. Phil put his T-shirt back on as they gathered up their stuff, including their stash of stolen sweets, into Dan’s bag, and once Dan had taken a healing potion for his hand, removed Sans’s extra heads and re-cast Phil’s glamour, they left the alley, making sure the coast was clear before making their way out of the village.

On one of the very outermost streets of the village there was a pub frequented by students (and teachers) from Knight’s. Dan had only been there once before about a year ago, but as they passed it he felt like having a few drinks would be a good end to the evening. Phil seemed hesitant but willing to try, but as the pub didn’t allow dogs inside Sans said he would take himself home, insisting that he was tired anyway. Before the Shibe left, he warned Phil about letting Dan drink too much, to which Dan scoffed and retorted that he would only have a couple, and once Sans had gone Dan and Phil entered the pub.

It was relatively empty, except for two or three occupied tables and a couple of guys at the bar. As Dan and Phil walked in, a guy at one of the tables looked up and grinned at them, waving slightly haphazardly at Dan and calling a greeting. The other men at the table turned to see who the guy was calling to, and also grinned and beckoned Dan over. They had been a couple of years above Dan at Knight’s before they left the school, but they had obviously stayed in the area, and Dan knew them from various parties and other events at school.

Dan grinned back and crossed over to join them, Phil tailing behind him. There were four guys altogether, kind of scrawny but in the long and skinny sort of way, with ratty hair and slightly bloodshot eyes from the alcohol and the recently extinguished cigarettes in the ashtray.

As Dan and Phil sat down, the guy who waved first said loudly, “Alright, Danny boy? Who’s ya friend?”

“Yeah, good thanks, Markus. Uh, this is Phil,” Dan replied, grinning sideways at Phil.

“Phil.” Markus reached forward to shake the demon’s hand, gripping it firmly. Phil looked slightly uncomfortable at the touch, and as soon as Markus let go he retracted his hand to hide it in his lap. “What can I get you boys?” Markus asked.

Dan told the older man what he wanted, asking for the same thing for Phil, and Markus called over the waitress to order Dan and Phil’s drinks and a couple of portions of chips. The waitress left to get their beers without asking any further questions. That was another reason this pub was popular with students: they weren’t very strict on the legal age limit, hardly ever bothering to ask for IDs as long as the person ordering was over eighteen.

“So,” Markus asked as the waitress returned with two almost overflowing pint glasses and set them on the table, “what’ve you lads been up to this evening?”

“Trick-or-Treating,” Dan answered innocently, taking a gulp of his drink.

Markus raised one eyebrow. “Really? Ain’t you a bit old for that?”

Dan grinned. “We’re not too old to go around tricking children til they drop their treats.”

Markus smirked and clapped Dan on the shoulder. They chatted about football or something for a few minutes while their chips arrived, then one of Markus’s friends noticed that Phil hadn’t touched his drink.

“C’mon, lad,” he urged in a slightly slurred voice, “aren’t you gonna taste the good stuff?”

Phil glanced at Dan as the others turned to look at him, and when Dan grinned and nodded encouragingly Phil picked up the glass and took a tentative sip. Everyone was silent while the demon swallowed hesitantly, then they all burst out laughing as he made a face and shook his head rapidly, setting the glass back on the table with an air of finality.

“Not to your taste, eh, Phil?” Markus grinned. Phil shook his head again and reached over to take a couple of chips, shoving them in his mouth to cover up the bitter aftertaste of the beer.

The chatter started back up again after a moment, and the subject changed.

Once Dan had finished his own drink, he smiled innocently at Phil and flicked his gaze pointedly between the demon’s face and his undrunk beer. Phil took the hint and raised his eyebrows, a small grin on his face.

“Go for it,” he said, laughing slightly at the fond look in Dan’s eyes as he slid the glass towards the boy.

“Thanks, Philly.” Dan grinned sweetly at the demon as he picked up the glass and took a gulp. Phil blushed at the pet name and looked down at his hands, smiling slightly before giving himself a mental shake: _that didn’t mean anything; Dan was just intoxicated and not thinking straight._

Markus and his friends laughed as they watched the exchange, gulping the last of their own drinks. Markus ordered a bottle of vodka for the table, and when it arrived Markus poured out six shots and handed them round, also giving one to Phil. The demon shook his head apologetically as the glass was placed in front of him, the others cheering and encouraging him.

“C’mon, Phil, just try it,” Dan urged. “You just knock it back in one, you barely even taste it.”

Phil grimaced, but he picked up the glass and sniffed it cautiously. Markus held up his own glass and looked around the table.

“To the Devil, our master!” he said loudly, repeating Knight’s initiation pledge where new students drank blood and wine from a copper goblet.

“The Devil, our master!” the others chanted, earning several shocked looks from other patrons as they drank their shots and set the glasses back on the table with a synchronised loud tap. Once again, Phil shook his head and made a face, placing his glass upside down before reaching for another handful of chips. The other five glasses were refilled, and the talk continued.

After another couple of shots, Dan was swaying slightly in his seat, and Phil decided it was time to leave.

“Ok, Dan, I think you’ve had enough to drink,” he insisted, standing up and pulling at Dan’s arm. “Remember what Sans said; we should go home.”

“Ugh, fine,” Dan whined, dragging out the vowel as he got to his feet, staggering slightly. “Bye, guys.”

With various calls of ‘bye, Dan/Danny boy/lads’ lingering in their ears, Dan and Phil left the pub, the former being supported by the latter.

They walked for about three minutes in silence except for Dan’s incoherent drunken rambling, but then as they passed under a street lamp he looked up at Phil with a sappy grin on his face, his eyes slightly out of focus.

“Have I ever told you what pretty eyes you’ve got?” he said slowly, stumbling a little bit over the words.

Phil blushed and glanced at Dan before turning his eyes back to the road. “No.”

“Huh.” Dan paused. “Well, you do.”

“Thanks,” Phil smiled, avoiding Dan’s gaze.

“They’re like little ice crystals,” Dan continued fondly, a wistful tone in his slightly blurry voice. “When you’re a demon, they look kinda out of place, but, like, in a good way… and when you look like this –” Dan indicated the glamour, pausing briefly before continuing with a deep, loving look in his eyes; “– you look like a fucking angel.”

Phil spluttered and almost dropped him. “What?! No, I don’t –”

“Yeah, ya fuckin’ do,” Dan insisted, prodding Phil in the chest with one finger. “You’re so fucking hot, you make Hell look cold.” He stared at Phil and winked with what he clearly thought was an attractive smirk, evidently proud of himself for coming up with that line. Phil looked away, fighting off a grin; in reality, Dan’s expression was more of a grimace and his wink had looked more like a tick, but Phil was nonetheless flattered by what the boy had said, even if he knew Dan was drunk.

Dan continued flirting with Phil for the rest of the ten minutes it took them to get home. Sans had been asleep on the sofa, but as they closed the front door behind them he opened one eye lazily to watch as Phil dropped Dan’s bag in the hall and tried to guide the boy towards his room.

“C’mon, Dan, you need to sleep,” he told him, but Dan whined in protest and stood his ground.

“No, I wanna watch TV,” he insisted, turning back towards the lounge. When Phil just gave him a look, he continued, “Just for a bit, then I’ll go to bed. Please?” he added, widening his eyes innocently like a manipulative child.

Phil met his gaze for a moment before sighing in defeat. “Well, fine.” He moved aside to let Dan stagger into the lounge and flop down on the sofa. Phil turned the TV on for him, tuning it in to some crappy late-night reality show, and then removing his coat and shaking off the glamour before sitting down next to Dan.

Sans had fallen back asleep by now. As Phil sat down on the sofa, Dan shuffled closer, his unfocused eyes fixed unseeingly on the screen.

Phil wasn’t really watching either; he was just waiting for Dan to get bored so that he could get him to bed. When, a few minutes later, he felt a weight on his shoulder, Phil glanced over to see Dan’s head drooping to rest against him. Before Phil could do anything more than blink confusedly, Dan started snoring, and his head missed the demon’s shoulder and instead slid down his chest to rest in Phil’s lap.

Phil twitched his wings embarrassedly, unsure what to do. He remained awkwardly where he was for a couple of minutes, then, as Dan’s breathing evened out, a small smile crept onto the demon’s face; _this was actually kind of nice._ His fingers slowly found their way into Dan’s hair, and for a while Phil just sat there, stroking the boy’s soft curls and thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to @existentialcrisisking on Tumblr for the suggestion of "either Dan or Phil fell asleep on the other one and the one that was awake was all awkward and stuff because they are embarrassed but they slowly realize it's kinda nice"; it definitely added something that this chapter was previously missing :)


	8. The Demon Disorientation

The next morning (well, alright, afternoon; it was almost 16:45), Dan woke up with a pounding headache. He moaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head to block out the bright Sunlight shining through the window. _Wait, covers?_ Dan sat up slowly; he didn’t remember going to bed. _What had happened?_ They had gone out to the town and scared Trick-or-Treaters, then… had they gone to a pub? Yes, that was it; they’d met up with Markus and his mates. _But then what?_ Dan ground the heel of his hand into his forehead, chasing the elusive memories, but it was no use; they’d gone, he couldn’t remember.

_Phil._ Phil must have brought him home and put him to bed. _That guy._ Dan reminded himself to thank the demon when he next saw him.

Dan just lay in bed for a while longer with his eyes closed, trying to calm the throbbing pain behind his eyes. After about twenty minutes, there was a tentative knock at the door and Phil stuck his head in.

“Good, you’re awake,” he said, pushing the door open further and entering, Sans at his heels. Dan was surprised to see that the demon was carrying a tray laden with toast and marmalade and a mug of coffee. “I got you something to eat.” Phil indicated the tray. “Sans showed me how to work the coffee machine and toaster,” he added, as Dan sat up and he stepped forwards to lay the tray across Dan’s lap.

“Thank you,” Dan smiled. “For everything; that’s really nice of you.” He picked up a piece of toast and took a big bite. Phil shuffled his feet awkwardly and fiddled with the hem of his T-shirt.

“I’ll, um… leave you to eat,” he muttered, hurrying towards the door and closing it behind him.

Dan frowned in confusion as Sans jumped lightly onto the bed next to him. “What’s up with him?” he asked, taking a gulp of coffee.

Sans was silent for a moment. Eventually he asked, _‘What do you remember of last night?’_

“Uh, we went out to the town,” Dan said hesitantly, taking another bite of toast, “scared Trick-or-Treaters, then, uh, did we go to a pub?”

_‘You and Phil did, yes,’_ Sans told him, _‘I came home. But Phil told me what happened while he was making your breakfast.’_

“Uh, what _did_ happen?” Dan asked nervously.

_‘Well,’_ Sans began, _‘you met up with some people, had several drinks, which you can probably figure out from your hangover, and then you came home. And, according to Phil,’_ the Shibe paused, _‘… you were flirting with him.’_

Dan stopped mid-bite and looked at him in shock. “I was?” He dropped his toast back on the plate and buried his face in his hands. “Oh, Satan, I _was_.”

_‘Dan?’_ Sans asked, leaning forwards to sniff him. _‘It doesn’t matter, does it? You were drunk, you were only joking, right?’_

Dan dropped one hand and stared at the dog through one deep brown eye. After a moment, the penny dropped, and Sans’s eyes widened.

_‘Oh Lucifer, you weren’t joking were you?’_ Sans blinked, _‘you actually_ like _him, don’t you?’_

“No!” Dan protested, although he didn’t sound sure. “Well… maybe, but… No!” Dan raised his voice, “I _can’t like_ like him!”

Through the wall in his own room, Phil lay on the bed with ears pricked, listening intently.

“Why would I like him like that?” Dan said loudly. “He’s not even _human_ , Sans! I _can’t_ like him like that!”

Phil sat up and blinked away the tears that threatened to fall, pushing himself off the bed and leaving his room. He needed to get out, to think. In a hurry, he opened the front door and stormed out, closing it behind him before launching himself into the air and flying off towards the forest.

Sans heard him go and sighed sadly, turning his melancholy eyes on Dan as the boy dropped his head into his hands.

“I _can’t_ …” he kept repeating to himself. “I _can’t_ , I _can’t_ , I _can’t like_ him…”

Sans didn’t know what to say. Instead, he stepped closer and lay down next to Dan, allowing the boy to take comfort from the soft reassurance of his presence.

*

No-one had seen Phil as he had flown over the houses in the fading Daylight, which was fortunate as he didn’t think his wing could take another hit, especially as it still hadn’t fully healed from the last one. Now, he was perched on a high branch of an ancient oak tree with his knees drawn up to his chest, sniffing back his confused emotions as he flexed his sore wing.

Part of him knew Dan was right: they weren’t even the same species, they _couldn’t_ like each other in that way – romantically…

Phil shook his head, his hands over his ears and tail lashing in frustration, his wings wrapped around himself to block out the world, trying to shake away the insistent prodding from the other part of him – the part that kept pointing out that _Dan had admitted to having feelings for him_ …

“No,” Phil muttered to himself.

_Dan likes you,_ it whispered.

“No!”

_You like him._

“ _No!_ ”

_You want to kiss him –_

“NO!”

Several birds scattered from the trees, rising in an irregular cloud and flying off to find somewhere quieter to roost. Phil’s breathing was fast and uneven, his blue eyes were tight shut and his fists were clenched over his ears. The voice fell silent, dissipated into the fog of his confused mind, but its words still lingered. _Were they true?_ Phil didn’t know, but the more he thought about it the more it seemed they were.

Phil _did_ have feelings for Dan.

For a long time, Phil didn’t move. Then, slowly, the demon uncurled himself from the ball of uncertainty he had knotted himself into; stretching out his wings, relaxing his arms and legs and letting them hang downwards, turning his head to watch the Sun sinking lower in the orange-stained sky to be hidden behind the black shadow of the horizon. _He_ did _have feelings for Dan_.

Phil stood up and kicked off from his branch, causing it to spring back and forth shedding leaves as he flew with slow wing-beats back to Dan’s bungalow.

The front door was unlocked, as he had left it. The Sun had fully set by now, and as Phil carefully pushed the door open he could see the blue light of the TV flickering through the lounge doorway. The front door clicked shut behind him, and Phil tried to sneak to his room without being heard, but as he reached for the handle Dan called to him from the living room.

“Phil? Can you come in here a moment? I need to talk to you.”


	9. Clawmarks On My Heart

Dan waved his hand at a lamp, turning it on by magic as Phil entered the lounge to see him sitting slouched on the sofa with Sans asleep in an armchair. Dan indicated the seat next to him on the sofa, and as the demon sat another flick of Dan’s fingers muted the TV.

For a few moments, they just sat in awkward silence not looking at each other. Sans had stirred and opened one eye as Phil came in, and although he had closed it again he was still awake, using his ears and nose to figure out what was happening without too obviously eavesdropping.

After a short while, Dan twisted in his seat to face Phil. As the demon turned to look at him, Dan opened his mouth to speak, but then seemed to lose his nerve and closed it again with a sigh.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said eventually, his eyes down, “about how my life has been different since I summoned you. Some of it,” he admitted, “has been stressful and challenging. But you’ve also made it a lot more interesting and bright. You’re sweet, naive, kind; you put up with me being drunk last night, and brought me home and put me to bed. You made me breakfast this afternoon.” Dan took a deep breath; Phil’s eyes had remained fixed on his face as he talked, and the demon’s ears were pricked in expectation for what was coming. “What I’m trying to say,” he said, “is that I like you. A lot. Like, as more than a friend.”

Phil nodded, causing Dan to frown slightly. “I heard you talking to Sans earlier,” he explained cautiously, “and I left because I wasn’t sure what to do about it, because…” Phil paused, “I like you too.”

“Really?” Dan asked after a moment. Phil nodded, half-nervous, half-eager. Dan stared unseeingly at the TV for a few seconds, thinking. Finally, he looked back up at Phil and bit his lip. “Can… can I kiss you?”

Once again Phil nodded eagerly, his eyes wide with anticipation. Slowly, Dan leaned in, closing his eyes when there were only a few inches between them. Phil did the same, and as their lips connected Sans twitched his ears uncomfortably.

Dan opened his mouth slightly, inviting Phil to deepen the kiss, but as Phil’s tongue flicked against his own something in Dan’s brain flinched away. It was like in cartoons when a person is controlled by lots of tiny versions of themselves in their head working their brain like a computer, except in Dan’s case the mini Dans were frantically pummelling an ‘abort’ button, telling him that Phil’s forked tongue was _wrong_ and to get away from it.

Dan pulled away, breaking the kiss. His breathing was heavy as his brown eyes met Phil’s blue ones, and he shook his head.

“I… I’m sorry…” he whispered. “I… I can’t…”

Phil blinked in surprise as Dan suddenly surged to his feet and rushed out of the room, murmurs of “I can’t” floating in the air behind him until they were shot down by the sharp snap of his bedroom door closing.

Phil glanced at Sans, who had stopped pretending to be asleep and had raised his head when Dan ran off. The Shibe was staring intently out of the door in the direction Dan had gone, his ears pricked and his nose twitching. After a couple of minutes during which Sans remained motionless, Phil spoke.

“Aren’t you gonna follow him?” the demon asked, his voice slightly hoarse.

Sans shook his head. _‘No; he wants to be left alone.’_

Phil frowned. “How do you know?”

The dog looked at him with a depth in his brown eyes that was a lot more serious than their usual cheeky sparkle. _‘I’m his familiar,’_ he told Phil wisely, _‘I can sense these things.’_

Phil nodded to himself. His eyes were wet, but he didn’t feel like crying as he had earlier. This time, he only felt a numbing emptiness, because he knew why Dan had gone. This had been Phil’s one chance for his feelings for Dan to go somewhere, but Dan had been scared away because of _what Phil was_. The thing that was keeping them apart was something that neither of them could change, and that was what hurt most.

Another few minutes passed in silence. Sans rested his chin back on the arm of his chair, but his eyes remained fixed on the door. Phil fidgeted with the hem of his T-shirt, his now-dry eyes flitting around the room unseeingly.

“When Dan called me an experiment in front of his teacher,” Phil said eventually, causing Sans to turn his head to look at him, “the main reason I got upset… is because I was already starting to have feelings for him, and I didn’t know how to deal with them.” Sans tilted his head to one side, ears pricked, but said nothing. After a couple of seconds, Phil continued; “I was telling the truth, when I told those girls near the food hall that I was gay – because at that point I had realised what my feelings were for Dan.”

Sans waited for Phil to say more, but when he didn’t the Shibe got up and jumped down from his armchair, crossed the room and climbed up on the sofa next to the demon, lying down against his side and, like he had with Dan earlier, offering comfort through his presence.

*

Dan lay face down on his bed, his thoughts whirling too fast to be coherent. He felt confused, angry, upset, stupid, _cruel_ : Phil clearly felt the same way as him, but Dan had pussied out because some part of his brain had rejected the feel of Phil’s unnatural body touching his own.

Eventually, Dan’s swirling thoughts slowed and settled, and he was able to read them clearly and mould them into a somewhat logical conclusion.

So what if Phil wasn’t human? It was his personality that Dan had fallen in love with (well, alright; and his hot body, but as that was mainly because of the glamour Dan wasn’t counting that). Just because they were different species, that didn’t stop the fact that they had nevertheless fallen for each other anyway. Besides, even if Phil wasn’t human per se, he was still humanoid, so it should still work…

Dan shook his head. _Stop it._ The first thing to do was to apologise to Phil for freaking out and to see if he would accept it. Then, maybe, they could go further… But not tonight. Dan rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes, not bothering to undress or even get under the covers. He would talk to Phil in the morning.

*

Phil blinked his eyes open, squinting in the bright Sunlight pouring through the screen doors. Sans was still asleep pressed up against his leg, and they had both spent an uncomfortable Night on the sofa in the lounge. Phil sat up slowly and stretched, yawning. Tears pricked his eyes as he remembered what had happened last night, although he wasn’t sure if they were from the yawn or his jumbled emotions.

Phil sat staring into the void for a while, not really thinking, just empty. Then, after a few minutes, soft footsteps in the hallway shook him from his reverie, also waking Sans, and they both turned to watch the door as Dan tentatively stuck his head in.

Sans knew instantly why Dan was there, so he slipped off the sofa and returned to his armchair so that Dan could sit on the sofa, which he did after a moment, perching on the end so that Phil didn’t have to be near him if he didn’t want to be.

“I’m sorry for freaking out yesterday,” Dan said quietly, his eyes flicking self-consciously from Phil’s face to his own clenched hands in his lap. “I just… this is all new to me, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Phil nodded slowly, his expression understanding but neutral.

When he said nothing, Dan sighed slightly and continued, “I… I really do love you, Phil; and… if you’re ok with it, I’d like to try again with us.”

Phil’s ears pricked hopefully. “Yes, of course,” he said, smiling slightly. “I’m sorry that I scared you away because of what I am.”

Dan frowned. “No, it was my fault; I was scared of my own emotions, not you. I could never be scared of you,” he finished in a whisper.

“So… you weren’t annoyed at me?” Phil asked cautiously.

“Of course not.” Dan grinned and rolled his eyes fondly. “Come here,” he said, leaning in and kissing Phil properly, blocking out the part of his brain that had been scared last time – _I could never be scared of you._

Dan felt Phil’s lips part slightly, allowing him the option of taking it further if he wanted to. Dan licked into Phil’s mouth, his tongue running over the demon’s pointed teeth. He felt the twin forks of Phil’s tongue touch his own lightly, and this time Dan felt no discomfort or fear: this wasn’t just a strange monster; this was Phil, _his_ Phil; he wasn’t going to hurt him.

As their making out got more intense, Sans began to feel awkward. Slowly, he climbed off the armchair and left the lounge, trying not to disturb them.

After a few minutes, Dan and Phil broke apart.

“I love you,” Dan whispered, his eyes shining.

Phil grinned. “I love you too.”

They sat looking into each other’s eyes for a moment, then Dan suggested they put a movie on. “It’s Sunday after all; we’ve got nothing better to do, so we could just spend the whole day watching movies.”

Phil agreed, so Dan set up Netflix while he went to get snacks. In the kitchen, Phil found Sans lying on his pile of blankets; the Shibe raised his head as Phil entered, watching as the demon crossed over to the cupboards.

_‘Are you two done eating each other’s faces?’_ he asked with a hint of amusement.

Phil laughed; “Yeah, for now at least.” He grinned at the dog. “We’re watching a movie – d’you wanna come join us?” he asked, taking bowls and snacks out of the cupboards. 

Sans stood up and shook himself. _‘As long as you’re not gonna start making out again.’_

“No promises,” Phil laughed. He finished preparing the snacks and drinks, then the Shibe followed him back into the lounge where Dan was sitting at one end of the sofa, the TV paused on the opening for the movie. Phil set the bowls and cups down on the coffee table and settled next to Dan as the movie began to play. Sans jumped up at the opposite end to Dan, leaving a space between himself and Phil as the demon sat down with his leg pressed against Dan’s.

Dan leaned against Phil with a contented sigh, and after a second Phil reached over and wrapped both his wing and arm around the boy’s shoulders. Dan looked up at him lovingly, and Phil grinned back as Dan reached up and planted a kiss on his jaw.

They watched the film in comfortable silence, only moving to grab another handful of crisps or sweets from the bowls on the coffee table. When the movie finished, they got up to replenish the snacks and drinks, then immediately settled back down to watch another. 

Several hours and three more movies later, Phil yawned and stretched, his wings almost touching the ceiling as he reached them above his head. Dan copied him before standing up and beginning to clear the pile of dirty bowls and empty junk food packets off the coffee table. Sans, who had got bored and disappeared about two hours ago, now came back into the lounge and sat down by the back door.

_‘Please could you let me out?’_ he asked.

Dan pointed one hand over his shoulder at the door, using magic to unlock it and turn the handle. Sans nosed the door open and headed out into the black shadows of the garden. Phil stood up and helped Dan take everything out to the kitchen. Dan showed him how to work the dishwasher, and then they both went back into the lounge to see Sans standing outside looking in, his telepathic voice muffled slightly as he asked to be let back in. With another flick of Dan’s hand, the door swung outward, allowing the Shibe back inside. Once the door had clicked closed and locked behind him, Dan glanced at the clock and then at Phil.

“It’s almost half one in the morning; we should probably go to bed.”

Phil nodded, yawning again. “Yeah.”

They made their way down the hall, but as Phil made to go into his own room Dan stopped him.

“Um, d’you want to come sleep in my room? With me?” he asked, slightly nervous.

Phil blinked in surprise, then grinned. “Yeah, ok.” He followed Dan on down the hall and into the boy’s room. Sans went straight over to his basket and climbed in, circling round a couple of times before settling down and muttering a sleepy _‘GoodNight.’_ Dan and Phil returned it, and Dan indicated for Phil to sit on the bed.

“I’m just gonna go have a quick shower and get undressed,” Dan told the demon, moving to grab his towel from where it was hanging on the back of the door and picking a clean pair of boxers out of his drawer.

Phil nodded in acknowledgement, and Dan left. In the ten minutes he was gone, Phil looked curiously around the room: at the mixture of big, leather-bound manuals and modern novels on the bookshelves; at the desk in the corner piled high with textbooks and loose pages covered in sketches and half-written essays; at the collection of amulets and charms hanging on a rail in the wardrobe; at the various posters tacked to the walls, of bands and botanical diagrams and other things unknown to Phil.

Dan returned dressed in just his boxers, his curls damp and unruly. Phil had remained sitting on the bed where Dan had left him, and as he entered Dan said, “Um, you might be more comfortable if you take off your shirt and jeans. I can lend you some boxers, if you want?”

“Ok,” Phil agreed, beginning to pull his T-shirt over his head. Dan helped him pull it carefully over his wings, biting his lip as the demon’s toned torso was revealed. Dan then went to get another pair of boxers out of his drawer and cut a hole in them for Phil’s tail before handing them to the demon and turning away to give him some privacy. Phil changed quickly, putting his slightly grubby clothes over the back of Dan’s desk chair, as Dan had indicated.

They climbed into bed, settling in a spooning position with Phil curled around behind Dan, his wings half-furled on the mattress behind him and his arms around Dan’s waist.

Dan smiled as he turned out the light with a flick of his hand. “GoodNight, Phil,” he yawned, shuffling backwards slightly so that his back was pressed against the demon’s chest.

“GoodNight, Dan,” Phil grinned, his warm breath tickling the boy’s neck as he placed a gentle kiss on the soft skin.


	10. The Stars In Your Eyes

Dan woke up with his face nestled against something warm. He lifted his head and blinked sleepily, his blurry eyes focusing on the face a few inches from his own.

Phil was watching him with a small grin on his face, one arm around Dan’s shoulders; Dan had turned around in the Night so that he was facing Phil, and he had been using the demon’s chest as a pillow. Dan smiled slightly as he closed his eyes again and nuzzled back against Phil’s chest.

“What’re you smiling at?” he murmured.

“You,” Phil told him truthfully; “You’re so beautiful, and when you’re asleep you just look so peaceful and young.”

Dan blushed, grinning as he looked back up at the demon before planting a soft kiss on his neck. Phil hummed and sighed happily, relaxing back against the pillows and closing his eyes again. They lay there for another quarter of an hour, and then Dan reluctantly pushed himself upright with a groan.

“C’mon, let’s go get some breakfast,” he muttered, climbing out of bed. “I’m starving,” he added as his stomach rumbled loudly.

Phil grinned and yawned, sitting up and leaning forwards to free his wings and stretch them out. At the same time he reached his arms forwards towards his feet, kneading at the covers like a cat as he stretched his shoulders. Sans had been lying in his basket on his back with his front paws tucked up on his chest, but at the mention of breakfast he twisted onto his belly and yawned widely before standing up and shaking himself. Dan pulled on his joggers and handed Phil his jeans, and then they headed down the hall to the kitchen.

While Dan got Sans’s breakfast for him, Phil poured them both bowls of cereal and made coffee, and then they went into the lounge and watched some TV while they ate.

When they had finished eating at about eleven o’clock, they took their bowls and mugs back into the kitchen. Dan said he was going to get dressed for lessons and he headed back to his room, leaving Phil to wash up.

A few minutes later Dan returned, fully-dressed and with his school bag over his shoulder. He dumped the bag on the table and began packing his books into it.

“I’ve got Spellcasting, Philosophy _and_ Astronomy today,” he told Phil, “so I won’t be back until quite a bit later.”

“That’s fine,” Phil said, smiling, as Dan zipped up his bag. “I’m sure me and Sans will find something to keep us occupied.”

Dan grinned as he swung his bag onto his shoulder. “Bye, babe,” he said, moving to kiss Phil. They lingered for a moment before pulling away, and Phil followed Dan as he walked to the front door.

“Bye, Dan. See you later.”

“Yes you will,” Dan replied, raising his eyebrows and smirking as he pulled his coat on, picked up his keys and then left.

Phil closed the door behind him and watched through the window as Dan walked down the front path and turned onto the street, waiting until he was out of sight before heading back into the lounge.

*

Dan’s Spellcasting lesson passed relatively uneventfully, and after a late lunch at one of the on-campus cafés Dan headed to double Philosophy.

By the end of the two hours the Sun was beginning to set, but Dan still had about half an hour before Astronomy, so he went back to the café and bought a hot chocolate, which he drank on his way up to the Observatory Tower.

At the bottom of the stairs he ran into PJ and Louise, hanging around while they waited for the start of the lesson. Astronomy was the only class that all three of them shared, which was annoying as they only had it once a week. Darcy wasn’t there, presumably back at Louise’s dorm, but as Dan called a greeting Chris poked his head out of PJ’s pocket.

“Hey, Dan! How are you?” Louise asked, standing up and hugging him.

“Yeah, good, thanks,” Dan grinned. “You?”

“We’re fine, thanks,” PJ smiled, also standing up. “Shall we go up?” he added, glancing at his watch.

As they began climbing the stairs, Louise asked, “How’s Phil doing? Is his wing healed?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Has he…” PJ lowered his voice, “y’know, forgiven you?”

Dan’s grin became more of a smirk. “You could say that, yeah.”

PJ and Louise noticed the change in his expression and tone, and glanced at each other in surprise.

“What does that mean?” Louise asked after a moment, frowning slightly.

Dan turned to her, still grinning. “Ok, so the reason he flew off and got injured in the first place is because Ormando called him an experiment and I agreed, right?”

“Yeah…?”

“Well, the reason he got so upset by that is because… well, he basically had a crush on me.”

“Right…?”

“And, as it turns out –” Dan paused, “I, er, had a crush on him too.”

The penny seemed to drop. Louise sighed and murmured “Dan…”, and PJ began to grin as he prompted “And?”

“And,” Dan smirked, “we _might_ have slept in my bed together last Night after making out on the sofa.”

They had reached the top of the tower by now, and they stepped out onto the open turret where the telescopes were set up and the class was gathering. They took their places by three of the telescopes and continued talking as the teacher arrived and began to describe what they should be looking for.

Louise was mostly happy for Dan, even if she was trying to hide the fact that she was slightly repulsed by the fact that Phil wasn’t human, and PJ just thought it was brilliant. Both kept asking for details, but Dan just smiled slyly and continued looking through his telescope, the icy blue light of the stars reminding him of Phil’s sparkling eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else forgot that PJ and Louise were characters in this?
> 
> I'll try to get the next chapter out within a week


	11. I Don't Know Which Way's Home

Dan had got home at about half past six. The house had been dark and silent except for the blue glow and sound effects coming from the TV, which filtered through the open lounge door and into the hallway as Dan let himself in. Phil and Sans were dozing on the sofa, but both had raised their heads as Dan entered, greeting him happily and shifting up to make room for him.

Dan was now cuddled against Phil’s side with the demon’s wing and arm around his shoulders, a half-empty bottle of wine between them and a movie on the TV. Dan took another sip of wine, then offered the bottle to Phil. The demon took it and put it to his lips, having discovered that he liked wine a lot more than beer, and as he lowered the bottle again Dan sighed contentedly.

“This is nice,” he murmured, grinning as he looked up at Phil.

“Yeah,” the demon agreed, turning to meet Dan’s gaze with a gentle smile. Dan’s eyes flitted down, and he reached up to capture Phil’s mouth in a lazy kiss, tasting the wine on the demon’s lips and tongue.

The movie was forgotten and became background noise. Dan’s hands began roaming on Phil’s chest, and Phil’s hand moved to cup Dan’s cheek, his thumb stroking the boy’s eye. They continued making out, sinking further and further into the blissful passion of it, almost in a daze, when suddenly a loud thud on the screen door made them jump apart.

“What the fuck was that?” Dan asked, panting slightly as he tried to calm his racing heart.

Phil stood up and cautiously stepped closer to the back door. At that moment, the motion-sensor lamp flicked on in the garden, and in its feeble yellow light they could just about make out the silhouette of something hovering just outside the door.

Sans had perked up at the sudden noise, and as Phil approached the door the Shibe slid off the sofa and followed, ears pricked and nose quivering. Phil reached for the handle and pulled open the door, jumping back as the shadow flew inside and began flapping around on the ceiling.

Dan waved his hand to turn the lights on, and the sudden brightness illuminated the creature.

 _‘It’s a bat,’_ Sans said confusedly, stepping underneath it and sniffing.

“A vampire bat,” Dan elaborated, slowly relaxing from his tense, ready-to-run position on the couch. “What’s it got in its feet?”

Sure enough, there was a narrow cylinder about four inches long gripped in the bat’s claws. Phil didn’t speak as he stepped closer and held out his hand, and the bat instantly flew down and dropped the whatever-it-was in his waiting palm before soaring out of the open door with a chilling screech.

Phil stared at the object for a moment with a shocked expression on his face, then crossed to close the door before re-joining Dan on the sofa.

As the demon sat down, Dan looked at the object in his hand. It wasn’t a stick, as he’d originally thought; it was actually a tightly rolled scroll, tied with a thin scarlet ribbon. Sans came over to sniff it, but recoiled and went to lie on one of the armchairs, watching intently.

“What is it?” Dan asked, glancing up at Phil; the look in the demon’s eyes worried him.

Still saying nothing, Phil moved to untie the ribbon, manipulating it carefully until it fell away and slowly unfurling the scroll, holding the parchment as though it might explode at any moment.

Dan was forced to look away as the message was revealed; the words were fiery and bright, written in ancient symbols that contained the power of Hell itself, unreadable for any mortal being. Dan’s eyes moved to Phil’s face instead; the demon was looking more and more upset as he read down the letter, and when he reached the end he sat staring at the final symbol for several moments before slowly looking up at Dan.

“What does it say?” Dan whispered worriedly.

Phil took a deep, unsteady breath as he rolled up the scroll and put it in his pocket. “It’s… it’s from my brother,” he said quietly. “S-something’s come up back home, and… they need me to go back.”

“What?” Dan’s voice was hardly more than a breath. “What’s happened?”

“I don’t know exactly…” Tears were beginning to form in the demon’s eyes. “But I… I have to go. And that means you have to… dismiss me.”

“Phil…” Dan was starting to cry now. “But… th-that means I’ll… never see you again.”

“I... I know. Dan…” Phil wiped his eye with one finger, “I’m sorry… please… I don’t want to go, but I have to.”

Dan sniffed, barely noticing that Sans had come over and was resting his chin on Dan’s hand. None of them spoke for a couple of minutes, then Dan took a deep breath and said, “Well… i-if you really have to go –” Phil nodded sadly, “– then I g-guess this is… goodbye.”

Silver streams ran down Phil’s cheeks as he leaned in to kiss Dan. It was lingering and tender, full of meaning and tinged with the bitter taste of salt and farewell.

They pulled apart after several minutes, both of them struggling to control their breathing. Phil cupped Dan’s cheek in his hand and touched their foreheads together.

“I love you, Dan,” he whispered.

“I love you too, Phil,” Dan breathed as the demon pulled away.

Phil bent down to pat Sans, also touching his forehead and sending him a mental message: _‘Look after him.’_

 _'I will,’_ Sans told him silently, licking the tears from his cheek.

Phil stood up again and turned back to Dan as he stepped into the centre of the room. “Dan,” he pleaded softly.

Dan took a deep breath. “I release you from my service,” he said loudly, his voice wavering only slightly. “You are free to return to the Hell you came from.”

The spell was broken. Thunder rumbled, and flames began to grow around Phil’s feet, pulling him into the floor. As he sank, Phil called “I love you, Dan”, his hand reaching towards the trembling boy. Dan cried out and lurched forward to grab at the demon’s hand, but their fingers touched for only a second before Phil vanished in a surge of fire, leaving only a blackened smudge on the wooden floor where he had stood.

Dan’s hand passed through the empty air and he collapsed on his knees, his whole body shaking with uncontrollable sobs and his hands over his face, tears falling unchecked into his lap. Sans sat slightly behind him, head down and ears low, his tail lying limp and motionless.


	12. Home Is A Person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while; I've been quite busy recently, but I will try to get the next chapter up asap

Walls of dull red rock materialised around Phil, and he collapsed on the ground as a surge of dizziness blurred his vision. Slowly, his surroundings came back into focus, and he was aware of the heat pressing in on all sides that caused the tears still falling steadily down his face to hiss as they dripped and landed on the stone floor.

He was back in Hell.

More specifically, he was back in his hive, in exactly the spot he had stood before Dan had summoned him.

The hives were basically hollows in the walls of Hell that provided accommodation and living areas for the demons, kind of like a cliff-side town. Phil’s was, like most of the others, sparsely furnished: only an unmade bed, a small cabinet and a flaming torch. There were communal areas for eating and socialising between shifts, but the bedrooms were purposefully designed to be impersonal and purely practical.

Phil just sat where he was for several minutes, staring into the middle distance as he gradually stopped crying. He was startled by a voice at the door.

“Phil!”

Another demon, slightly more muscular than Phil and with short dirty-blond hair, came into the room with a wide grin on his face and pulled Phil up and into a hug. “How have you been, brother?”

“I’m fine, Martian,” Phil murmured, wrapping his arms around his brother and gulping back the last of his tears.

Martian pulled away and looked Phil up and down. “What the Hell are you wearing?” he asked with a teasing grin. Phil just shrugged, and Martian’s expression softened as he leaned closer. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, fine,” Phil lied, wiping his eyes with one clawed finger. “What’s happening?” he asked louder, clearing his throat.

“Oh, well Lord Lucifer ordered everyone back,” Martian explained, beckoning Phil and leading him out of the hive. “We’re having a sudden huge influx of sinners,” he began, launching himself into the air with steady wing-beats, “and some of us are having to work double or even triple shifts to keep up their punishments, so everyone’s working less efficiently. Loads of others have come back over the last couple of days, so now we’re at almost double the numbers we were at before.”

As he was speaking, Martian led Phil over the punishment fields towards a glowing rift in one wall, from which several long lines of damned souls stretched towards what looked like airport security stations. This was where sins were judged and punishments were decided, and each station was manned by a demon behind a computer. About twenty other demons were hovering around, waiting to escort the souls to their punishments as they came through the gates.

Martian landed a little way away from one of the stations and walked forwards, calling out to the demons manning it and the one next to it; “Hey, Blackclaw! Skull! You two can go on break now – Phil and I will take over.”

“Thanks, Martian!” the closer demon, Blackclaw, called out, sending through one last soul before stepping out of the station and towards Phil and Martian, followed by Skull from the other station. Both demons gave them grins and thumbs up before flying away towards the hives. Martian took Blackclaw’s place, and Phil took Skull’s.

They worked for quite a long while (time is difficult to measure in a place with no Sun), and after a bit Martian realised that Phil was working slower than usual; his movements were minimal, and he spoke little except to occasionally ask or answer a question. For the most part, Phil just pressed buttons and handed over the little print-outs with descriptions of sins and punishments wordlessly. Martian didn’t say anything to him, however; he just continued with his work.

Eventually, their shift ended. Once a couple of other demons came to take their places, Phil and Martian flew back to the hives to sleep.

*

A couple of ‘days’ later, Phil and Martian had once again just finished their shift at the gates, and instead of just going back to their hives to sleep they decided to go to the common room area.

They headed to a couple of seats in the corner, and once they had sat down, Martian spoke.

“So,” he said, “what’s the matter?”

Phil glanced up from staring at his own hands. “What?”

“You’ve seemed a bit distracted since you got back,” Martian explained. “Is everything ok?”

The younger demon was silent for several moments; he seemed to be thinking how to phrase his answer, which immediately told Martian that everything was _not_ ok.

“I didn’t want to leave him.”

Martian blinked. “Who?”

Once again, Phil paused before replying, although not for as long this time. “The boy who summoned me – his name’s Dan – I didn’t want to leave him.”

“But… why?” Martian was confused. “You were his slave, Phil – I thought you’d be glad to come home.”

Phil shook his head. “No, I… I wasn’t his slave, Martian.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was his boyfriend, Martian.” Ignoring his brother’s shocked expression, Phil continued; “I love him, and he loves me; he never made me do anything I didn’t want to. I was his friend and roommate… then it just evolved into something more.”

Martian was silent. His expression was surprised, but also thoughtful. After a couple of minutes, he asked, “Do you want to go back to him?”

Phil nodded, and his brother was once again silent. However, at that moment, a couple of Martian’s friends came over and invited them to play a board game. Martian agreed, and the subject was dropped.

Or so Phil thought.

The next day, Phil was lying on his bed pretending to be asleep when his door opened suddenly, startling him.

After a second of confused blinking, Phil could make out the silhouette of his brother as Martian came into the room and beckoned to him.

“Come with me,” he said, walking away again.

“Where are we going?” Phil asked, surprised, following his brother out of the room.

Martian’s answer was evasive as he leaped into the air. “You were one of the last summoned demons to return. I sent you a message as soon as I knew where to send it, but I didn’t know where you were.” They were flying back out over the punishment fields, but this time they were headed in the opposite direction; towards a shadowy castle at the opposite end to the entrance. “I was confused as to why you were so difficult to track down,” Martian continued, “but now I think I understand. Because your relationship with Dan wasn’t master and slave – but rather equals – the magical bond was weakened, meaning that it didn’t stand out as much amongst all the other magic.”

“So where are we going?” Phil repeated.

“I made an appointment with Lord Lucifer,” Martian told him shortly, flying down and landing at the foot of the castle’s front steps. Before Phil could say anything, Martian was leading him through the huge doors. As they walked down the corridors, they passed lots of other demons going about their work on the business side of keeping Hell running. Many were carrying stacks of paperwork, but few paid any attention to Phil and Martian.

Eventually, they came to a large set of ebony doors with a bronze knocker shaped like a goat’s head. Martian glanced at Phil before reaching for the knocker and banging it once, twice, thrice. A second of silence passed, and then a loud, commanding voice echoed from behind the doors.

“Enter.”

Martian pushed the door and it swung open, revealing a huge and imposing throne room. The obsidian walls were decorated with flaming torches and mediaeval tapestries depicting various gory executions, dark rituals and horrific creatures, all of which were reflected in the polished black marble of the floor. The ceiling was lost in shadows far above their heads, and Phil wasn’t sure if he was imagining the occasional pinpoints of light through the blackness which might have been eyes.

Stretching from the door down the centre of the room was a blood red carpet, and in the flickering torchlight its surface seemed to ripple like water, or perhaps something thicker… Martian began walking purposefully along the carpet, and Phil followed him, still looking around. As they moved, the eyes on the tapestries seemed to follow them, the expressions of the victims screaming as though for help. Phil tore his gaze away from them with a shiver, instead looking ahead towards the dais at the end of the carpet.

Two hellhounds lay on the steps, their glowing red eyes fixed on the approaching demons. A twisted throne of dark iron sat at the top, and on the throne sat a being of immense power – a being that radiated so much evil energy it was almost impossible to believe he had once been an angel of God.

Satan himself.

His red skin, large horns, impressive height and muscular build certainly made him an intimidating figure; his angular face was moulded into a smug, slightly manic grin, and he was wearing a reddish-purple suit made out of the skin of some kind of reptilian creature, its colour so dark it was almost black except for where it caught the light.

The image was undermined, however, by the fact that the Red Lord was preoccupied by what appeared to be a Nintendo Switch, on which he was frantically pressing buttons and muttering things like “Get him!” and “Die, motherfucker!” and “Yeah, that’ll teach you not to mess with the Devil!”

Phil and Martian stopped a little way back from the base of the dais and waited, glancing at each other with surprised and confused expressions. After a minute, Martian cleared his throat pointedly, and Lucifer finally looked up.

“Ah,” he said, hurriedly tucking the console behind him, “you must be Martian?”

“Yes, sir,” Martian confirmed. “This is my brother, Phil,” he added, gesturing to Phil. “He’s why we’re here.”

“Ah, yes; of course.” Lucifer leaned one elbow on the armrest of his throne and rested his chin in his hand thoughtfully. “Your brother told me you have a request?” he said, addressing Phil.

“Uh…” Phil glanced at Martian nervously. “W-well… maybe…”

“The thing is, sir,” Martian said, taking over, “Phil was one of many who were called back from the Overworld to help with the influx of sinners, as you ordered.” Lucifer nodded. “Phil had been summoned by a student at Lucian Knight’s school, and they, um –”

“– I was his boyfriend, sir,” Phil interrupted. “I love him; I can’t leave him,” he finished, swallowing nervously as Lucifer raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Well,” the Devil said, blinking, “I’ll admit that’s not what I was expecting. So, what is it that you are asking of me?”

“I… I would like to return to the Overworld,” Phil said after a pause. “I want to be with him.”

Lucifer nodded slowly. Phil and Martian glanced at each other, and both of them stepped back slightly as Lucifer stood up and slowly descended the steps of the dais.

“So,” he said, “you want me to send you back to the Overworld so that you can be with the boy you love?”

Phil nodded nervously, but his eyes were hopeful. “Yes, sir.”

The Devil smirked. “You’ve done good service here, Phil, but I’m sure we’ll be able to manage without you. I will grant you your request.”

A smile began to grow on Phil’s face. “Thank you, sir,” he breathed. He looked over at Martian, and his brother nodded.

“Goodbye, little brother,” Martian grinned. “And good luck.”

Phil nodded and looked back at Lucifer. The Devil raised his hands slowly, and Phil felt himself go limp and his knees hit the floor. His vision became blurry and began to fade. The last thing he saw were the faces of Martian and Lucifer looking down at him before everything was swallowed by darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the pun on Martyn's name :D
> 
> There's only one more chapter plus an epilogue to go, folks!


	13. Back To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is coming a lot sooner than it normally would because I'm really impatient to start my next fic, ['Silver Heart'](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15818841/chapters/36825132), but I'm forcing myself to finish this one first.
> 
> There's now only the epilogue to come, and I will try to get it up within the next week :)

It had been almost a week since Phil had gone. For the first day or so, Dan had just stayed at home not wanting to do much, spending hours at a time sitting on the sofa or his bed staring into the middle distance, getting up only to go to the kitchen or bathroom when he had to. Sans had done much the same, lying next to Dan with his ears down and tail still.

A deep sense of sadness had draped itself over the house, seeping into every corner and attempting to cut them off from the outside world.

After a couple of days, Sans had persuaded Dan to go to class as normal, saying that Phil wouldn’t want him to spend the rest of his life being sad. Dan had unenthusiastically agreed and gone, albeit reluctantly, and when anyone asked where he had been he just told them that he had been sick. No-one had questioned it: with his lethargic demeanour and the dark circles around his eyes from lack of sleep, Dan did indeed look like he had been ill.

This morning, Dan and Sans woke up feeling much the same as they had every other day this week: sad and sluggish, but as there was nothing better to do they got up and started their normal morning routine.

Dan slowly made his way down the hallway to the kitchen, Sans following behind with his tail down. Dan got out the Shibe’s food and filled his bowl before setting it on the floor and putting the kettle on. Sans lowered his head to the bowl and began eating with a murmured _‘thanks’_ , but a minute later he looked up again, staring out of the kitchen door and sniffing frantically.

Dan, who was pouring himself some cereal, noticed the Shibe’s change in mood and glanced over at him, frowning. “What is it, Sans?”

The dog didn’t reply. Instead, he suddenly ran into the hallway barking excitedly, and Dan heard him scrabbling at the front door.

“Sans! What –” Dan yelled, following.

_‘It’s Phil!’_ the Shibe told him, finally managing to hook his claws over the handle and open the door, dropping back to all fours and nosing his way out before sprinting down the path.

“Phil…?” Dan looked out of the window, his heart beating fast and mouth dry, his eyes widening and a smile growing on his face as he saw the tall, dark-haired, pale-skinned figure in a Pixel Pops T-shirt standing at the end of the path with Sans bouncing around him. “ _Phil!_ ” Dan ran out of the front door and tore down the path, and as Phil stood up from greeting Sans Dan threw himself into Phil’s arms, burying his face in his shoulder. There were people walking past down the street giving them odd looks, but Dan didn’t care.

_Phil was back._

He felt Phil’s strong arms wrap tightly around his back, holding him as though he would never let go. Phil’s breath was catching slightly and tickling Dan’s neck as he spoke:

“I love you, Dan.”

Tears pricked Dan’s eyes as he pulled away only to lean in again and press his lips to Phil’s, trying to condense all his emotions into that one kiss.

When they broke apart Phil pressed his forehead against Dan’s and looked him deep in the eyes. “I love you so much, Dan, and I promise I’ll never leave you again.”

Dan’s breath hitched, and a single tear of happiness rolled down his cheek. “I missed you so much, Phil. So fucking much – and I’m so happy that you’re back.”

As Phil’s thumb moved to gently brush under Dan’s eye, Dan suddenly seemed to notice that something about him had changed, and he stepped back slightly in surprise.

“You… you’re human,” he breathed, reaching up to run his hand through Phil’s hair, feeling for horns that no longer existed.

“I am,” Phil smiled. “Satan rewards those who have served him.” He remained still as Dan backed away to take in Phil’s whole body, which was now the glamour made real; same snowy skin, same elegant fingers, same beautiful face with the same crystal-blue eyes that had never changed.

“Do you like it?” Phil asked softly.

Dan stepped closer again and picked up one of Phil’s hands, playing with his fingers. “I love it,” he murmured, smiling. “But I think I’ll need to see a bit more of it,” he added cheekily, beginning to walk backwards towards the house.

“Oh, really?” Phil grinned, allowing Dan to pull him along by the hand.

Dan’s only answer was a suggestive smile, and as they disappeared inside Sans sighed to himself, waiting a few moments before following them, pushing the door closed behind himself.


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this has come a bit late, but I hope you enjoy :)

Phil clapped along with everyone else as another graduating student sat back down, his eyes drifting to the next seat along as Dan stood up and made his way towards where the deputy head, an elderly balding man named Professor Torgren, stood beside a table with a knife and a small flaming brazier.

Dan held out his left arm, and Professor Torgren took hold of it, turning Dan’s wrist to face upwards. Dan barely winced as the Professor picked up the knife and began tracing an image onto the pale skin, a single bead of blood running down Dan’s arm and dripping to the floor, staining the wood along with hundreds of other droplets that had fallen before it.

Once the last point of the miniature pentagram was finished, Torgren placed down the knife and guided Dan’s wrist over the flames, chanting a spell to stop the image from fading before allowing Dan to retract his arm.

Dan had informed Phil yesterday of what would happen at the graduation ceremony so that he wouldn’t be completely surprised, but Phil still felt a twinge of discomfort as he watched the Professor disfiguring his boyfriend. However, that discomfort was quickly pushed down by pride as Torgren addressed Dan.

“Daniel Howell, you no longer bear the rank of apprentice. Instead, you leave this place as a fully-qualified witch, and join us as a Master of the Craft and a Follower in the Ways of the Devil.”

Dan grinned and thanked the Professor, and then walked back to his seat as the audience applauded. As he sat down again, Dan caught Phil’s eye and gave him a reassuring smile before turning to watch the next person.

*

The bungalow was now emptier than it had been since before Dan had moved in; everything except the furniture had been packed into bags and boxes, which were now piled up by the front door. All Dan and Phil’s clothes were folded into a large suitcase, and Dan’s personal items were stuffed into his backpack; all his books and sketches and pages of notes were packed neatly into two cardboard boxes; another box contained various ritualistic tools, such as his knife, cloak and amulets; Dan’s bowls, plates, drinking glasses, mugs and cutlery had been wrapped in paper and placed inside a fourth box, and what little leftover food there was had been collected into a tote carrier bag. Sans’s bowls and toys were packed in the Shibe’s own dog-fitted backpack; his basket was currently balanced atop the pile of boxes, and his blanket was folded in with the clothes.

It had been about a week and a half since the graduation ceremony, and as Dan looked through all the rooms to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, he heard Phil call him from the front door, and he came out into the hallway to see Phil standing with Louise, PJ, Darcy and Chris beside the pile of luggage. Louise and PJ had not yet graduated, and would be staying at the school for another year or so before making their own ways out into the world.

“Surprise!” Louise called, smiling as she held out her arms towards Dan.

“Hi, guys,” Dan grinned, hugging her. “Come to say goodbye?”

“We thought you might want some help carrying all your crap to the gates,” PJ said, also grinning.

Dan laughed. “Yeah, that would be nice, actually. Thanks.”

Ten minutes later, with the four humans and Sans loaded up like pack mules, they all left the house, Dan closing and locking the front door behind them for the last time. They took their time walking to the front gates, talking and laughing about their various memories of their time together at the school. They passed a few people, a couple of whom called out farewells to Dan, and eventually they reached the entrance to the school’s campus; huge wrought iron gates flanked by two massive stone pillars, each one topped with a crouching demonic figure.

PJ set down the box he was carrying on the grass verge and looked at Dan, Chris balanced on his shoulder. “How’re you getting to your new place?” he asked.

“I ordered a taxi,” Dan told him, dumping his rucksack and his own box beside PJ’s.

“Do you want us to wait with you?” Louise asked, shooing Darcy out of Sans’s basket as she set it and the suitcase down on the pile.

Dan shook his head. “No, that’s fine. Uh, but would you mind taking my key back to the office for me?”

“Sure,” PJ smiled, stepping forward to take the key to the bungalow and then pulling Dan into a hug. “Take care of yourselves, guys,” he said, releasing Dan and moving to hug Phil as well.

Phil grinned. “Thanks, we will.”

PJ bent down to give Sans a goodbye pat, Chris running down his arm to also say goodbye to the Shibe by perching on his head and bending over to look into his eyes upside-down.

 _‘Bye, Sansy boy,’_ the rat said, nibbling playfully on the dog’s ear before climbing back up to PJ’s shoulder as Sans snuffed good-naturedly at him.

Meanwhile, Louise stepped up to embrace Dan. “We’ll come and visit you once you’ve settled in,” she promised.

Dan grinned as she pulled away. “We look forward to it.”

Louise went to hug Phil goodbye as Darcy crossed over to sit beside Sans.

 _‘Well, goodbye, then,’_ she told the Shibe awkwardly, and Sans gave her a wide doggy-grin as he leaned down to lick the cat’s face.

 _‘Bye, Darcy!’_ he said cheekily, his voice full of amusement at her shocked and disgusted expression. _‘I’m sure you’ll miss me loads!’_

 _‘Ugh,’_ Darcy hissed, rubbing her paw over her face and ear to clean off the slobber. _‘Yeah, sure…’_

Louise giggled as she said goodbye to Sans, rubbing his chin and cheek for a few moments before picking up Darcy and backing away to stand next to PJ. Everyone said their final farewells, and then she and PJ left, walking away towards the mansion together with their shoulders occasionally brushing.

As they rounded the corner out of sight, Dan sat down on the grass next to their luggage, indicating for Phil to sit next to him. Phil did so, smiling.

“You alright?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Dan sighed, running his hand over his face and through his hair. “I’m just a bit nervous, y’know? Actually going out into the world, having to completely fend for ourselves.”

Phil nodded, reaching out to take Dan’s hand. “I get that, but we’ll manage.” Phil indicated Sans, who was sniffing around the base of a tree a few metres away, “The three of us will get through it together.”

Dan grinned at his boyfriend, his own brown eyes meeting Phil’s blue ones. “I’m so lucky to have you,” he murmured, leaning closer. Phil grinned back, also leaning in.

Just as their lips were about to touch, they heard a voice from behind them, making them both jump.

“Are you boys off, then?”

Dan and Phil spun around to see a middle-aged woman sitting in a deckchair in the shade of the tree, one hand hanging down by her side stroking Sans’s chin. The woman’s hair was long, straight and silvery; her skin was pale, although still darker than Phil’s; her face was angular and faintly lined, set with dark, midnight-blue eyes. Dan and Phil got to their feet, watching as she stood up and began walking towards them with Sans at her heels, her brownish-purple robes flowing around her slender frame.

As she approached, Dan recognised her and dipped his head respectfully. “Professor Knight.”

“Please, call me Lucian,” she insisted, smiling. “I am, after all, no longer your teacher, Master Howell.”

Dan nodded, grinning. “Thank you… Lucian.”

The Headmistress dipped her head in return and turned to look at Phil, who was standing slightly behind Dan with his gaze down. “And you, Philip; are you missing the wings and tail?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.

Dan and Phil glanced at each other in surprise, and Lucian smiled.

“Oh yes, I know all about that,” she said. “I keep up to date with our Lord Satan. He was very keen to inform me of the demon who asked to be human so that he could be with the boy he loved, especially as the boy in question was a student at my school.” Lucian chuckled at Dan and Phil’s startled expressions. “Don’t worry; I won’t ask any prying questions,” she assured them, and they smiled embarrassedly. “I just want to wish you a long and happy life together.”

Dan and Phil smiled and murmured thanks, but Lucian’s expression suddenly became mournful.

“When I was young, homosexuality was punishable by death,” she said sadly. “It was considered ‘unnatural’ by God’s law, and so the Christian society I lived in took every opportunity to stamp it out.” Lucian sighed; “Fortunately, our Lord Satan is much more – how do you say these days – ‘chill’ with that sort of thing, but by the time I found him it was too late for me: the woman I loved had already been killed, discovered with me in her bed one night by her brother.” The Headmistress looked down at her hands, running her fingers through Sans’s fur as the Shibe nudged her comfortingly with his nose. “He ran to alert their parents, involuntarily giving me time to get away via the window, but she did not get the chance before her father arrived in a drunken fury…” Lucian’s eyes were wet as she looked back up at Dan and Phil’s surprised faces and smiled. “When I devoted myself to the Devil’s service and this school,” she said with a shaky sigh, “I made an oath to protect not only my students, but also other young people who are rejected by their families and friends because of who they love.

“I am aware that a lot of the world had changed,” she continued, “but there will always be those who remain of the same views that got my love killed.”

Dan and Phil were silent, not sure how to respond, but they were distracted by Lucian looking at the gates behind them.

“I believe your ride has arrived,” she said. Dan, Phil and Sans turned to see that there was indeed a taxi pulling up to the side of the road just outside of the gates. As they watched the driver climb out, they heard Lucian add, “Good luck, boys,” and they looked back to thank her, only to find that she had vanished; even the chair under the tree had gone. Dan and Phil glanced around for a moment before the taxi driver called for their attention.

“Hey! Did you lads order a taxi?”

“Er… Yes,” Dan answered, pausing as he shook his head and arranged his face into a smile. The driver gestured to the pile of boxes and bags.

“Is all that yours?”

“Yeah,” Dan told him apologetically.

The driver shook his head to show that it wasn’t a problem, instead picking up one of the boxes and indicating for Dan and Phil to do the same. It took them only two trips to have everything packed into the taxi; the four boxes, the suitcase, Sans’s basket and backpack, and the food bag just about fitted in the boot, and Dan tucked his rucksack in by his feet as he climbed into the backseat with Phil and Sans.

“Right,” the driver said, getting into the front seat, “where to, lads?”

Dan gave him the address to enter into the sat-nav, and once the route came up they set off, taking one last look at the school out of the rear window.

Ever since Dan’s graduation, he and Phil had been looking around for somewhere to live, but their choice had been very limited due to their small budget and having to find somewhere that allowed dogs. They had also had to think up a surname for Phil so that he could legally be registered as a tenant, and after much deliberation and flicking through a handful of Dan’s books looking for inspiration, they had settled on ‘Lester’, partly because it was fairly common and inconspicuous, but mainly because Phil had found it in one of Dan’s books about magical creatures and liked the story about a man named Michael Lester who had made friends with a pack of wild dragons in order to study them.

After just under a week of intense flat-hunting, they had found a relatively nice apartment on the second floor of a small building in the suburbs of a nearby city. It was reasonably big for a two-bedroom apartment, and it also had an exterior staircase down to the shared garden.

It had been a quick deal, and today the landlord would be waiting for them at the front door to give them their keys.

Sans had been asked to not speak to them during the journey, as they weren’t sure if the driver would be able to hear him, and they didn’t want to risk him being freaked out by a talking dog and possibly crashing the car. To stop himself being tempted to talk, Sans had curled up and gone to sleep, and Dan and Phil’s fingers intertwined in his fur as they drove, for the most part also staying silent except to respond to the driver’s small-talk.

The journey took about an hour, and by the time they got there Dan and Phil were almost asleep as well, and the driver had to speak quite loudly before they surfaced.

“We’re here, lads.”

Dan blinked blearily and rubbed his eyes, looking out of the window at the apartment building he and Phil had visited a few days ago. “Great, thank you,” he said to the driver, stifling a yawn. “Are you ok to wait if we go up first and then come back down for our luggage?”

“Yep, fine,” the driver assured him, so Dan, Phil and Sans climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door, ringing the intercom for the landlord’s flat.

“Hello?” The landlord’s voice rattled through the speaker.

“Uh, hello,” Dan said. “It’s Dan Howell and Phil Lester – ”

“Ah yes,” the landlord interrupted. “Come on up, I’ll be right there.”

The intercom cut off and the door clicked, so the three of them went inside and headed up to the second floor. As promised, the landlord was waiting for them by the door, and he smiled widely at them as he pushed it open.

“Welcome to your new home, gents,” he announced, leading them inside. They gathered in the hallway, and the landlord gave them their keys and his contact information, as well as formally welcoming them. Before he left them to bring their stuff up, he crouched down and held out a hand towards Sans.

“And who’s this little guy?” he asked as the Shibe sniffed him.

“Sans,” Dan answered, smiling down at the dog.

“He must be very well behaved,” the landlord commented as he reached out to stroke Sans’s ears. “You must trust him a lot to not have him on a lead.”

“Yeah, he’s very good,” Dan agreed, grinning as he sensed Sans’s mild frustration at being treated like a normal, simple-minded pet.

The landlord left after that, and the three of them went back down to where their taxi was waiting. The driver had already opened the boot and began unpacking, so Dan and Phil helped him unpack the rest before starting to carry it all up to their new apartment.

“Sans, can you bring your bag?” Dan asked without thinking, picking up one of the boxes of books. The driver frowned slightly as Dan spoke, but his expression changed to one of surprise when Sans actually picked up the miniature backpack in his mouth and began walking towards the propped-open door of the apartment building.

“Wow, he’s very intelligent, isn’t he?” the driver remarked, impressed.

Dan nodded slightly hesitantly, blinking as he realised his mistake but nevertheless smiling and agreeing. Phil caught his eye and grinned as he also picked up a box and they followed the Shibe upstairs.

When they got back to the apartment, Sans had dropped his bag by the front door and was exploring the rooms, having not been there when Dan and Phil had first visited. _‘This is a nice place,’_ he commented, going into the lounge and putting his front paws up on the windowsill. _‘It’s not our bungalow, but I like it.’_

“Good, I’m glad you approve,” Dan grinned, setting his box beside Sans’s backpack and crossing over to the back door. “Do you want to see the garden?” he asked, opening the door onto the small balcony and stairs down.

 _‘Ooh, yes please.’_ Sans dropped down from the window and trotted over, sticking his nose out and sniffing at the air before beginning to descend the steps.

“We’ll go get the rest of the stuff,” Dan told the dog, putting the stop under the door. “I’ll leave this open for you.”

Sans wagged his tail to show that he had heard, so Dan beckoned to Phil and led him back downstairs.

Dan paid the taxi driver and thanked him, and then he and Phil carried the remaining bits of luggage up to the apartment. Once all the boxes were stacked neatly in the lounge and the bags plus Sans’s basket had been moved into the bigger bedroom, they gathered in the kitchen and began unpacking the food bag, which had been left on the counter.

They didn’t have much choice, so they had to be a bit creative when coming up with ideas for dinner. In the end they just made pasta with a few vegetables mixed in, and while that simmered away on the hob Dan and Phil put the rest of the food away. It looked pitifully little in the empty cupboards, so they decided that one of the first things they would do tomorrow was go shopping.

Dinner didn’t take long to cook, and once it was done Dan separated most of it into two bowls, also adding some to Sans’s kibble. They ate sitting on the floor in the lounge, Dan’s laptop (which had been bought only a few weeks ago for the purpose of house hunting) balanced on top of one of the boxes and a movie playing on the screen. Sans curled up next to them, starting to watch the film with them but falling asleep by about forty minutes in.

When they had finished eating, Dan and Phil set their bowls down on the floor beside them and shuffled closer together. Dan’s head dropped onto Phil’s shoulder, and Phil smiled as he planted a kiss in the soft brown curls, his right arm wrapping around Dan’s shoulders.

It definitely wasn’t the most comfortable position, sitting on the hardwood floor slouched against the wall, but Dan didn’t mind; he was here with Phil, and that was what mattered. His left hand reached up to caress Phil’s cheek, and he smiled as he looked up at his boyfriend. Phil was right there, smiling back as he pressed his lips gently to the miniature pentagram scarred onto Dan’s wrist.

Tomorrow they would go shopping; food, furniture, appliances, etc. – it would take a little while for this blank canvas of an apartment to feel like home, but that was ok.

Phil and Sans were already Dan’s home, and as long as he was with them Dan knew that the rest of his life would fall into place accordingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that’s it! Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with this fic; I really hope you've enjoyed it, and please tell me your thoughts either in the comments or on Tumblr @ky-thewolf.
> 
> My next Phanfic will be ‘Silver Heart’, a Werewolf AU featuring Dan as an orphaned juvenile and Phil as a hunter’s son. I hope you will enjoy it, and please consider following me on Tumblr if you want to be kept up to date with my future works. In the meantime, you can read my other completed Phanfics ‘Black Hearts and Heroes’ (superheroes AU) and ‘The Internet is Dead' (zombie apocalypse alternate reality), or my current ongoing one, ‘Phan’s Girl’ (parent!Phan).

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Tell me your thoughts on Tumblr @ky-thewolf


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